Anti-polio drive: Negligent officials to face action

PESHAWAR: Commissioner of Peshawar Division Riaz Khan Mahsud has directed the officials to convince through jirga, a traditional Pakhtun dispute resolution mechanism, the reluctant parents to get children vaccinated against polio.

He said this while presiding over a meeting of the Divisional Task Force about the upcoming anti-polio campaign starting on April 29. The senior officer warned that strict disciplinary action, including termination of services, would be taken against negligent officials.

He emphasized that good performance would be rewarded with promotions and incentives, while poor performance would result in severe punishment.The meeting was attended by deputy commissioners, district police officers, district health officers, revenue officers, municipal officers, and administrative officers from all five districts of Peshawar Division, including Peshawar, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mohmand, and Khyber.

Last time when thousands of parents had refused polio vaccines to their children in the provincial capital city of Peshawar, Riaz Mahsud was deputy commissioner Peshawar and he had managed to handle the issue.Polio eradication in Pakistan, and particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its southern and merged districts, has become a challenge for national and international organisations.It is widely believed that poliovirus has become purely an administrative issue as there are loopholes in the mechanism used to get rid of it.