PESHAWAR: Emergency Operation Centre in collaboration with medical teaching institutions (MTIs) is strengthening surveillance for timely detection of polio cases and vaccination of children visiting out-patient departments with their parents as part of a plan to eradicate the crippling childhood ailment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“We are collaborating with MTIs to ensure the immunisation of children visiting hospitals with their parents as well as detection of Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases to protect children from being infected with poliovirus. It is a new initiative for which we have increased number of vaccinators,” Abdul Basit, the coordinator of Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), told Dawn.

He said that so far they had held meetings with the directors of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) to seek their cooperation regarding the immunisation of at least 5,000 children visiting those facilities per day.

“We have decided to enhance our teams to 26 at KTH and LRH from the current 12 and similar strategy will also be pursued at Hayatabad Medical Complex where meeting with administration will take place shortly,” he said.

EOC chief hopeful about eradication of the crippling ailment

Mr Basit, who is also special secretary health (polio), said that during the last two and half years, they had missed more than 140 AFP cases at Peshawar-based hospitals and wanted to ensure that every suspected child was tested for poliomyelitis. He added that Pakistan had so far recorded nine polio cases but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was free of the virus and they wanted to continue efforts and eradicate the disease.

“Since January 2024, the virus has been found in the environmental samples of 11 districts with latest in Hangu in July and in Abbottabad and Peshawar in June where we are laying more focus on vaccination to strengthen the immunity of toddlers and put brakes on the disease totally preventable through immunisation,” he said.

Mr Basit said that stubborn reservoirs of the virus in Peshawar and other cities were also an issue that could be resolved only through vaccination. Children must be vaccinated in each and every campaign till they reach the age of five years.

Oral polio vaccines are also available at fixed centres of expanded programme on immunisation at the hospitals.

He said that Peshawar had always been a major source of concern as being the capital city it was the main transit point for the province’s population. “Our new plan of strengthening surveillance and vaccination at MTIs will lead to protection of children,” he added.

Mr Basit said that as per the new approach, the doctors at MTIs would check children coming to OPD or institution-based practice with parents while those suspected of having virus would be reported to EOC to collect their stool samples for poliovirus.

“In the past too, we had reached close to eradication of polio but we missed the opportunities. This year, there is a ray of hope given the hard work by frontline workers and support by the government, administration and law enforcement agencies,” he said.

The EOC chief said that poliovirus had been wiped out from the world except Pakistan and Afghanistan and vaccination was the only way to make children safe from disabilities. He said that the response of the directors of MTIs was very admirable. He added that they also held meetings with OPD managers to enlist their support.

“In addition to increase in teams, we have also instructed our workers to give a bottle of mineral water to each child upon vaccination as gesture of appreciation,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2024