Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that polio has been eradicated from the whole world, except Pakistan and Afghanistan, therefore, we as a nation have to join hands and resolve to eradicate this crippling disease from our country.
This, he said in a video message released here from CM House on Saturday. The inauguration ceremony of the weeklong anti-polio drive was attended by Minister Health Dr Azra Faza Pechuho, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, Commissioner IftikharShahalwani, Adl IG Karachi GhulamNabiMemon, Secretary Health KazimJatoi, Coordinator EOC FayazAbbasi, DrAltafBosan of TLF Islamabad, DrShaukatChandio of UNICEF, Dr Zara of WHO, Dr Raj Kumar DHO South and others.
Murad Ali Shah with a heavy heart said that the entire world has eliminated polio from countries, except Pakistan and Afghanistan which was quite painful. “This is a crippling disease and cripples would children, but sorry to most of the parents do not cooperate with the government to administer polio drops to their children,” he said and added this year 64 cases of polio have been detected from Pakistan, of them 21 belonged to province of Sindh.
The chief minister launched anti-polio virus camping by giving polio drops to some children here at CM House and also administering them the Vitamin-A drops to strengthen their immunity level. Following the Covid-19 SOPs, the chief minister personally sanitized the hands of the children whom he gave polio and vitamin -A drops and wore them masks. The Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio in Sindh has started a province wide Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) campaign from the 15 to 21 August 2020. The campaign will take place in all 29 districts of Sindh with a total target population of 9.2 million children under 5 years of age.
In addition to OPV, 8.3 million children from six months to five years of age will also be given Vitamin A drops to boost their immunity levels. A total of 49,781 polio workers and 8497 area supervisors will be deployed in the province for house to house vaccination.
