LAHORE:The national anti-polio campaign will start in all districts of Punjab from August 22. In three high-risk districts - Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Faisalabad - the drive will continue by August 28 while in other districts, it will conclude on August 26. The authorities have set a target of vaccinating around 22 million children up to the age of five years.
A meeting jointly presided over by Provincial Minister for Primary Health Akhtar Malik and Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal was held to review the arrangements for the drive, at Civil Secretariat here Thursday. Secretary Health Imran Sikandar Baloch, representatives of international organisations working for polio eradication and relevant officials attended the meeting while all the divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners participated through video link.
Provincial Minister Akhtar Malik directed that the anti-polio campaign be made successful. He asked the deputy commissioners to personally monitor the anti-polio campaign, besides paying special attention to the coverage of missed children in the high-risk districts.
The chief secretary said that the success rate of Quality Check Sampling (LQAS) should be more than 80 percent. He said that the country has to be made polio-free for the health and safe future of children, adding that there is a need to continue working with a national spirit. He said that the polio teams must inform the people about preventive measures related to dengue. He mentioned that the cooperation of international organisations in efforts to eradicate polio is commendable.
The Secretary Primary Health gave a briefing to the meeting. He said that the coverage rate in the anti-polio campaign completed in seven districts in June was 96 percent. He said that 85,193 mobile teams have been formed for the anti-polio campaign of August and more than two lakh polio workers would perform their duties.