The anti-polio campaign will continue across Punjab province from October 26 to 31 and as many as 19.4 million children up to the age of five years would be immunized against the crippling disease during the campaign.
An important meeting was held under the chairmanship of Provincial Health Minister Dr. Yasmeen Rashid to review the arrangements for the anti-polio campaign at the Chief Secretary’s Office, here on Thursday.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary Punjab, Secretary Primary Health, commissioner and deputy commissioner Lahore and officers concerned. The divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and chief executive officers of district health authorities participated through video link.
Addressing the meeting, the provincial health minister said that collective and concerted efforts were needed to eradicate polio from the country. She said that along with the campaign against polio, special attention should be paid to improve EPI coverage.
She said that exact data on birth registration would have to be collected to know the actual number of Zero dose children (term used for children who did not get even a single dose of polio vaccine).
The Chief Secretary directed the deputy commissioners to personally monitor the anti-polio campaign in the districts and keep a regular check on the situation, adding that any negligence would not be tolerated at all.
He said that new polio cases in the province and the presence of the virus in the environmental samples was a matter of concern. Over poor vaccine coverage in some union councils of Dera Ghazi Khan, he said that performance would be reviewed after the upcoming drive and action would be taken against the negligent officials.
The Chief Secretary also asked the officers to ensure 100 percent coverage in the anti-polio campaign through implementation of the updated micro plan. He said that in order to eradicate polio, it was necessary to work with national spirit and all departments concerned should play an active role in controlling this deadly disease in collaboration with international organizations. The Secretary Primary Health told the meeting that the in September’s campaign a target was set to immunize about 20 million children against polio, claiming that success rate remained 98 percent.
