For polio drives, high-risk areas to be barricaded

Govt asks provinces to consider intelligence reports before launching campaigns.

ISLAMABAD:

The federal government has suggested that provinces should cordon off areas for anti-polio drives with the help of law enforcement agencies as part of new security measures to provide security to polio vaccinators.

The Cabinet Committee on Immunisation, which was constituted on the prime minister’s directives to look after issues related to the security of anti-polio teams, has been asked to direct provinces to take this precaution to prevent attacks on vaccinators in the future.

The issue was discussed during an emergency meeting held on Thursday in the backdrop of the recent attacks on polio workers in Mansehra and Bajaur. The meeting chaired by National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Minister Saira Afzal Tarar reviewed different proposals and options for risk mitigation and harm reduction.



Sharing the details of the meeting, a senior NHSRC official told The Express Tribune the participants suggested that all provincial governments should consider intelligence reports in the high-risk areas before launching anti-polio campaigns.

Currently at union council-level majority of the security plans for the anti-polio drives are formulated without consulting law enforcing agencies. “It is important the health and law enforcement officials should sit on one table and chalk out security plans together,” said the official requesting anonymity.

The meeting agreed to recommend the Cabinet Committee on Immunisation that a post-incident inquiry be conducted in the event of any polio-related attack. Such an inquiry will be conducted by a team comprising a representative each of interior ministry, intelligence agencies, district police officer and a polio expert.

“After a thorough investigation, the provincial government will be held responsible if a lapse in security arrangement is identified on their side,” the official added. The provinces have been asked to analyse all attacks on polio workers separately in their specific areas and to formulate a detailed security plan according to the findings.

In a statement issued after the meeting, NHSRC Minister Tarar expressed dismay over the recent attacks on polio vaccinators, calling for revision of polio security strategy.

“We are in a state of war and we must not be deterred. Health campaigns that protect lives must go on and there will be no compromise on the health and wellbeing of our children at any cost,” she said in the press release.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2015.