Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor concerned over failure of polio eradication efforts

Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Barrister Masood Kausar on Tuesday expressed concern over the failure of efforts persistently made for eradication of polio virus from the country, particularly the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and FATA and stressed that it should be taken as a national challenge.
"We must ensure people's participation at gross-root level to achieve optimum results," he said while addressing the launching ceremony of three day Special Anti-polio Campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA, held at PGMI Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar on Tuesday.
MNAs Haji Munir Orakzai and Sajid Hussain Tuir FATA attended the ceremony on special invitation besides the officials of the health departments of the province and FATA. Ulema and people from different walks of life including women also attended the ceremony. The Governor administered polio drops to the children to launch the campaign.
In his presidential speech, Governor Kausar categorically said that eradication of polio was not possible until the efforts in this regard were owned and participated by the people at the gross root level. The process, he added should not be confined to the government and its functionaries only rather the entire nation and people from different segments of the society should take it as a national obligation.
He said that apparently polio eradication was not a very difficult task as it didn't involve prolong and perturbing treatment. "It is a precautionary measure by nature and we can save the children from this menace by simply giving them a few drops of polio vaccine regularly," he remarked adding that commitment and seriousness to the cause were the basic requirement for success in this regard. The Governor urged the authorities to sort out the real causes and reasons behind the failures and take remedial measures.
The Governor said that the government was even at the highest level fully committed to the cause of eradication of polio and President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani along with others at the helm of affairs were personally supervising and monitoring the efforts at the national level.
He appreciated the assistance being extended by the international organisations like UNICEF, WHO and Bill Gates Foundation and said that they were taking more than due interest to eradicate polio from Pakistan. He underlined the role of media in mass awareness and motivation, saying that students, ulema, women folk especially the mothers were needed to be involved in the project. He said that rural population in particular must be perused that polio vaccination was not unsafe rather necessary to save their children become paralyse forever.
Speaking on the occasion Dr Wafaa Saeed, UNICEF representative appreciated the Government's Emergency Action Plan and expressed the hope that the plan if implemented correctly could produce tangible results. However she stressed the need for accountability of the responsible functionaries at the lower level and to ensure that every child gets the vaccination at the proper age and time. She renewed the commitment of her organisation to collaborate with the government of Pakistan to eradicate polio and protect the children not only here but throughout the world.
Secretary Health, Mohammad Ishfaq and In charge Polio Eradication Dr Janbaz Afridi highlighted the arrangements made for polio vaccination during the campaign and hoped that more than 17,000 teams of field workers would reach around 6.3 million children in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA.
Earlier, the Governor presided over a high level meeting at Governor's House to review the arrangements for three day anti-polio campaign in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA. Secretary Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Additional Chief Secretary FATA, Secretary to Governor and others attended the meeting.
The Governor expressed satisfaction over the arrangements but stressed the need for obtaining results that were visible on ground. He said that the performance of political administration with regard to polio eradication would be reviewed after every six months and those who failed to deliver would be taken to task.