‘Deploy trained polio teams at transit points during Eid’

LAHORE: Punjab Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator (EOC) and head of the polio programme in Punjab Khizer Afzaal has directed district health management teams to deploy adequately trained polio teams at the transit sites during Eid so that no child missed vaccination during movement from one city to another.

The EOC coordinator directed all districts to ensure data quality and treat vaccination of children at the transit points as a top priority. “Movement of families during Eid poses a challenge to polio eradication efforts. Virus can migrate along with families. So trained and well-equipped polio teams need to be deployed at the transit points during Eid”, underlined the EOC coordinator.

Khizer said this during a review meeting with district teams at Punjab EOC on Thursday. The EOC head chaired the meeting while chief executive officers of 13 Punjab districts where polio campaign was held from March 13-19 participated via video link. Lahore heath management team was present in the meeting in person. International polio eradication partners also participated.

The EOC coordinator, during the meeting, received a presentation on the overall performance of districts during polio campaign based on the key indicators including Lot Quality Assurance Sampling, post-campaign monitoring and intra-campaign monitoring results.

The EOC coordinator was informed that overall coverage of the campaign stood at over 100 percent while over 11.66 million children were vaccinated. The EOC coordinator was briefed that more than 0.78 million children received polio drops as guests, which accounted for 6.7 per cent of the total children vaccinated. The EOC coordinator was informed that all the districts achieved coverage of more than 100 per cent.

The polio programme head called on the district teams to focus on trainings and to iron out all issues in micro-plans before the next polio eradication campaign scheduled to begin in May. “The districts need to start working on the next campaign from today and make it even more successful. Begin from the revision in micro-plans and ensure that all areas and children are reflected in the plans”, Khizer Afzaal directed.