GHALANAI, June 1: Political Agent, Mohmand agency, Adil Siddiq on Friday called upon the parents to administer oral polio vaccines (OPV) to their children to save them from the fatal disease.

He was talking to journalists in the agency surgeon office here where he inaugurated the three-day polio campaign which will be started from June 4 (Monday) in the area.

Agency Surgeon Dr Farooq Shah warned the vaccinators of termination from services if they showed any laxity in the three-day immunisation campaign.

A total of 86,200 children below the age of five years would be given oral polio vaccines.

Dr Farooq said that 40 fixed centres and 366 mobile teams had been formed to ensure vaccination of children traveling with mothers in bazaars, bus stands and other places.

Agency Surgeon Dr Farooq Shah said the parents, who were previously unwilling to administer anti-polio drops to their children, had been convinced with the involvement of the local religious leaders in the campaign.

Tribal elders Malik Mohammad Ali Haleemzai, Malik Amir Nawaz Khan, Maulana Abdul Haq and president Mohmand Welfare Organisation Mir Afzal Mohmand assured their full cooperation to the health department in the eradication of polio from the area.

KHAR: Bajaur agency political agent Syed Abdul Jabbar Shah on Friday said the government was committed to eradicating polio from the agency and urged the tribal elders to continue cooperation with the administration in the vaccination drive in their respective areas. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the three-day polio drive here, he said polio had become the most dangerous disease in the country as Pakistan was among the three countries in the world where polio virus was still a serious threat to human life. —Dawn Report