TAXILA: In a special four-day anti-polio drive launched in Attock, 1,474 children under the age of five could not be reached while two families refused to administer drops to their children, sources told Dawn on Thursday.

The sources in the health department said the campaign was launched on the directives of provincial authorities after a vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) case emerged in the district on July 12.

The drive was initially for three days to administer polio drops to 296,662 children across the district under the supervision of representatives from provincial and federal health authorities and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

An additional day was added to the drive to ensure that no child remained without the polio drops.

However, the target was not achieved, said the sources.

They said on the third day at a meeting chaired by Deputy Commissioner Ali Annan Qammar, the chief executive officer (health) Dr Sohail Ijaz Awan expressed resentment over the performance of some health officials.

He said: “Some reluctant officers are clearly visible that they have a chance to improve their performance.”

Separately, on the fourth day, he said he personally visited the field and found that field teams lacked vaccines and daily review meetings were not conducted.

When contacted, Dr Asad Ismail, the district health officer preventive services, confirmed that 1,474 children in the district could not be traced during the three days and even on the fourth catch-up day. He said all-out efforts would be made on the fifth day, an additional day, to cover these children. Responding to a question, Dr Ismail said respective area assistant commissioners and the revenue staff had been assigned the task to trace the missing children as well as persuade the refusing parents by evolving politicians, notables and religious leaders to administer drops to their children.

About the performance of some officials, he said strict departmental action would be taken against “poor performers”.

About unavailability of vaccine to anti-polio teams in some areas, he said the “concerned quarters have been warned and on the point rectification done.”

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2020