PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary Nadeem Afzal Chaudhry has directed 24 deputy commissioners in the province to explain their failure to carry out assessment of polio vaccination campaigns in the respective union councils and submit explanations within three days.

In a letter, the office of Emergency Operation Centre said that the performance of most DCs in “quality assessment of October’s anti-polio drive was poor as their district administrations had failed to fulfil vaccination responsibilities.

It revealed that the chief secretary, during a meeting of the provincial task force on polio, asked DCs to explain their position on the matter.

EOC coordinator Abdul Basit, who is also the special secretary (health) for polio, said that the chief secretary wanted deputy commissioners to furnish reasons for their failure to assess vaccination quality in the last campaign.

EOC insists most district admins didn’t fulfil vaccination responsibilities

Officials said as the province was set to launch a five-day campaign on Dec 16, local health authorities were facing acute challenges posed by lack of interest by deputy commissioners, district police officers and district health officers due to their inability to run the campaigns effectively and immunise all targeted children.

In the last meeting of the provincial task force, the chief secretary asked DCs of Mansehra, Orakzai, Bajaur, Swabi, Khyber, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, Battagram, Peshawar, Lakki Marwat, Abbottabad, Bannu, Torghar, Bannu, Upper and Lower Dir, Shangla, Kohat, North Waziristan, Hangu, Karak, Buner, Tank and Lower Kohistan for their failure to carry out assessment of campaign quality at USC level in their respective districts.

Records reveal that these districts have not conducted campaign quality assessment in 90pc UCs and in Upper Kohistan and Tank, some district their performance level is zero whereas Buner has 8 score, Karak and Hangu 25 each, Waziristan 33, Kohat 38, Shangla 42, Upper Dir, Torghar and Bannu 50.

Haripur, Upper Kohistan, Kolai Palas, Lower and Upper Chitral, Malakand, Swat, Charsadda and Nowshera have conducted 100pc assessment.

Meanwhile, a news release from the EOC said that during the upcoming campaign, polio drops would be administered to around 7.3 million under five children across the province, except Kurram district where vaccination had been deferred.

EOC coordinator Abdul Basit said that all arrangements had been finalized for the successful implementation of the anti-polio campaign.

He said that 42,161 teams of trained polio workers, including 32,387 mobile teams, 6,301 observers, 1,967 fixed teams, 1,342 transit teams and 164 roaming teams had been formed to administer anti-polio drops to targeted children.

Besides, 8,273 area in-charges have also been appointed for the supervision of these teams to make sure that all children in targeted areas are vaccinated against polio.

The EOC coordinator said that in order to ensure foolproof security of the polio teams during the campaign, around 54,000 security personnel had been deployed in the target areas, he concluded.

Health officials told Dawn that the province had so far registered 18 of the total 63 countrywide polio cases reported in the current year and authorities were pinning hopes on district administration, police and DHOs to ensure quality vaccination campaigns.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2024