Polio Drops: Pak, Afghan officials discuss vaccination

QUETTA: Officials of Pakistan and Afghanistan responsible for polio vaccination met in Chaman town to discuss inoculation of children at the Pak-Afghan border crossing of the Friendship Gate. A delegation led by Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) Balochistan Dr Syed Saifur Rehman met Afghan Public Health Ministry official Azullah Kakar to review the strategy for border areas during the anti-polio drive. The meeting was informed that over 14,000 people cross the Friendship Gate daily with an average of 900 children below the age of 5 years. “The available teams can cover around 600 children per day which means we miss almost 300 children daily,” a vaccination official said. Commissioner Quetta Kambar Dashti, DC Killa Abdullah Khudae Dad, N-Stop Officer Dr Aftab Kakar, Afghan officials Dr Mohammed Essa and Dr Sadaat and UNICEF and WHOs team heads attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2015.