RAWALPINDI: Anti-polio teams started administering drops to children below the age of five as the five-day drive kicked off across the district on Monday.

The campaign was inauguratedby District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Anser Ishaq after he administered polio dropsto a child at a basic health unit in Dhamial Union Council.

A four-day drive with a target to administer polio drops to 313,959 children also started in Attock.

Teams visited bus terminals and the airport and gave polio drops to all children below the age of five entering the city, the officer told Dawn.

He said the monitoring team of the District Health Authority watched over the campaign, adding that the district administration had also made special arrangements for those children whose parents refused to cooperate with the health teams.

He expressed his satisfaction over the ongoingpoliocampaign and said no issue was faced on the first day, adding that over 50,000 children have been administered thepoliovaccine in tehsils of Rawalpindi, Taxila, Kahuta and Kallar Syedan. Some parents refused to let teams administer drops to their children but the situation was handled amicably.

Dr Ishaq said teams had also been provided adequate police security.

On the other hand, cantonment authorities arranged a separate function to kick off the campaign in Rawalpindi Cantonment General hospital.

Rawalpindi Station Commander Brig Salman Nazar inaugurated the campaign by giving polio drops to a child in the hospital.

Speaking on the occasion, Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) Cantonment Executive Officer Imran Gulzar said for the cantonment areas, 520 mobile teams and 65 fixed teams were formed to vaccinate more than 148,000 children against the crippling disease of polio.

He requested parents to let teams administer polio drops to their children.

Taxila

The drive was formally inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Attock Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema at the District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital.

Chief Executive Officer (Health) Dr Mohsin Ashraf, District Health Officer Dr Kashif Hussan, Assistant Commissioner Attock Dr Irfan Raza, DHQ medical superintendent, vaccination superintendent, in-charge polio control room and representatives from World Health Organisation (WHO) were also present.

Dr Cheema told officials that they must ensure polio drops were administered to all children between the ages of one to five, calling on parents to cooperate with teams to make the campaign a success.

“The district has persistent data quality as well as micro-plan issues which need to be fixed. Areas which are located across the provincial boundary inside Punjab need to be combed to ensure that all households are accounted for and no child is out of the micro-plan,” he said.

In order to make the campaign successful, teams of the health department will have to fulfill their responsibilities with national spirit and ensure that no child is deprived of the polio vaccine, he said, adding fingers of all children who were administered the vaccine should be marked besides doors of houses they live in so the campaign can be monitored.

Chief Executive Officer (Health) Dr Mohsin Ashraf while briefing participants said that over 90 medical officers, 298 area in-charges will supervise the campaign.

During this campaign, vitamin A drops will also be administered to children, adding that 2,203 teams have been constituted and they will be present at all entry and exit points of the city, bus stands, railway stations, hospitals and health centres.

As many as 2,035 mobile,129 fixed teams and 40 transit teams have been constituted, he said, adding that a control room has also been established.

He said that adequate security measures have been adopted by the government to protect polio workers who would visit door-to-door to achieve their target.

A large number of well-equipped officials of the district police have also been deployed with the teams.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2023