1,400 cops deployed to provide security to polio teams

Rawalpindi: As many as 1,400 police personnel have been deployed to provide security to polio teams during the ongoing anti-polio campaign, informed police spokesman here on Monday.

Police are working alongside 677 teams of polio workers to ensure security during the campaign. Senior officers are actively supervising and guiding the police personnel involved in polio campaign.

According to SSP (Operations) Flight Lieutenant (r) Hafiz Kamran Asghar, the security of polio teams is a top priority. He informed that to ensure the security of the teams, the police personnel were also patrolling in their respective areas.

He emphasised that the Rawalpindi Police are fully committed and using all available resources to protect the lives and property of citizens. Meanwhile, the special anti-polio campaign began in Rawalpindi on Monday targeting 8,86,877 children under 5 years age for vaccination. The seven days exclusive campaign is a culminative development decided after the presence of polio viruses reported two weeks ago.

Punjab Polio program head, Khizer Afzal has announced that the campaign will be organised in 5 districts including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Lodhran and Muzaffargarh. During the campaign, more than 45 lac children will be given drops. Khizer Afzal, in a statement said that the campaign has been organised after the presence of poliovirus.

32,000 polio workers will perform duties during the campaign which will last for 7 days in Lahore and Rawalpindi, and for 5 days in remaining districts, he said. Khizer reiterated for all-out efforts to eradicate the polio virus from the province. In Rawalpindi, 4,000 vaccination teams have been deployed for the campaign.

According to Dr. Ejaz CEO Health, refusal and non-attended cases would be covered on the same day. In a brief interaction with APP here on Monday, he informed that 245 Union Council Monitoring Officers (UCMOs) and 870 area in-charges have been appointed for Rawalpindi district campaign. Moreover, 3,675 mobile teams deployed, 330 fixed points and 163 transit points have been established, he said. Dr. Ejaz urged parents not to listen to rumours, and support polio workers who, he said were our heroes.