PESHAWAR:
Khyber-Pakhtunkwa Governor Mehtab Abbasi has asked authorities to expedite and coordinate their efforts to eradicate polio from K-P and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).
At a meeting held on Wednesday at the Governor House, he asked officials to join hands with the Pakistan Army to work on arranging better immunisation campaigns, particularly for internally displaced persons. “Not a single child should be left without being given polio drops,” he told participants of the meeting.
Administration, infrastructure and coordination secretary Abdul Majeed briefed participants about the disease. He said so far in 2014, a total of 207 polio cases have surfaced in the country, including 136 from Fata and 43 from K-P.
He claimed from June 16 till now, a total of 163,947 children below five years of age have been administered polio drops at Saidgai check post in North Waziristan Agency, while a total of 36,500 children have been vaccinated in Kurrum Agency. In the rest of North Waziristan, a total of 14,317 children have been vaccinated against polio.
The governor directed officials to remove any hindrances and problems like the ones which the polio vaccination teams have faced on account of law and order in various regions. He urged the political administration in Fata to realise their responsibilities on polio eradication fronts and not consider themselves absolved of it. “You should perform your responsibilities proactively to eradicate the disease,” he told political administration officials.
“The polio teams should be provided with all facilities and security by the political administration in their respective areas so that the teams can carry out their duties without any fear.”
Mehtab said meetings regarding the disease would be held at Governor House from time to time where steps would be discussed so that proactive measures are taken.
Senior health department officials, secretaries of various government departments, representatives of XI Corps Headquarters and Inspector General Frontier Corps, Prime Minister’s Polio Monitoring and Coordination Cell, Islamabad, Unicef and World Health Organization were present at the occasion.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2014.
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