Punjab prone to polio virus reinfection

LAHORE : ‘Provincial districts located on the boundary with other provinces are more prone to polio virus reinfection,’ warned the Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator and head of the polio programme in Punjab Khizer Afzaal on Wednesday.

He expressed the concern while addressing twin review meetings held after the conclusion of national polio immunisation drive in Punjab. District health management teams of all districts, including CEO and District Health Officers, participated in the review meeting. 

The campaign saw millions of children vaccinated against polio. In Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, the campaign continued for seven days. While in smaller districts, the campaign lasted five days. Speaking on the occasion, the Punjab EOC coordinator reminded that six polio cases were reported from all over Pakistan. In addition, 183 environmental samples have tested positive, he said, adding that although Punjab was free of polio cases for the last three years, but it was susceptible to polio virus importation from the endemic zones. ‘Especially mega districts and other districts which are located on the provincial boundaries like Chakwal, Attock and Mianwali are more prone to the virus because of high-risk mobile population movement’, the EOC coordinator underscored.

He called for a thorough review of micro plans and deployment of local language appropriate teams especially in such high-risk districts where priority populations travelled frequently. He also stressed on improving quality of trainings of the frontline staff and deployment of more trained and dedicated staff in high-risk union councils. While advocating for more focus on Lahore, Faisalabad as well as Rawalpindi division, the EOC head highlighted the need to pay more attention on such union councils which showed unsatisfactory results. Afzaal called for coverage of all missed children in outreach sessions. He also highlighted the need to vaccinate zero-dose children identified during the recent polio campaigns. Speaking about vaccine use, the EOC coordinator called upon the district teams to carefully analyse the vaccine usage data and send a report to the provincial office.