Anti-polio drive in Sindh being carried out in ‘effective’ manner: CM

KARACHI: Provincial Minister for Health Dr Azra Pechuho said that the polio campaign in Sindh province is being carried out in a very good manner and no case of polio has been reported in the last two years.

She expressed such views in an important meeting on polio virus held here at Sindh Secretariat under the co-chairmanship of Chief Secretary (CS) Sindh Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput and Provincial Minister for Health Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho on Monday.

Commissioner Karachi Muhammad Iqbal Memon, Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon, Secretary Home Saeed Ahmed Mangrejo, Health Secretary Zulfiqar Shah, Provincial EOC Coordinator Fayyaz Abbasi, WHO representatives and all relevant Deputy Commissioners have attended the meeting.

The meeting discussed the situation after the recent polio virus case detected in South Waziristan. The health minister further said that a polio campaign would be launched in the province in the month of May.

She requested the parents to cooperate with the polio teams and immunize children up to 5 years of age. The provincial Health Minister said that the role of social mobilizes and influencers should be made more effective to persuade parents who earlier refused to administer polio drops.

In the meeting, Chief Secretary Sindh Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput directed all the Deputy Commissioners to launch the polio campaign in full swing and said that 100% of the targets set for the polio campaign should be achieved and no shortcomings would be tolerated in the polio campaign. “Last mile towards polio free Pakistan is very challenging” Said CS Sindh.

He further said that people from other provinces would return to Karachi and Hyderabad after Eid holidays for which an effective polio campaign should be launched at entry points of the province.

It was decided at the meeting that polio drops would be administered at bus stands and railway stations with the help of police, Railway police and Rangers. Polio drops will be effectively administered at bus stands in Karachi Toll Plaza, Hyderabad Toll Plaza, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Kashmore and other border districts of the province and for which the health department would increase the number of polio teams.

During the meeting, the Deputy Commissioners highlighted that it was a challenge to persuade the parents who were denied polio during the polio campaign and for this a high level policy needs to be formulated on how to vaccinate such children against polio.

On this, Chief Secretary Sindh Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput formed a three-member committee comprising Secretary Home, Commissioner Karachi and Health Secretary. The Chief Secretary also directed the relevant departments to provide effective security to the polio teams and support them in every possible way so that they could show their best performance.