Sindh EPI’s deputy programme manager transferred to Mithi

Karachi
In a surprise move, the Sindh health department on Tuesday transferred the most active official affiliated with polio eradication initiative in Sindh, Dr Durre Naz Kazi to Mithi, taluka headquarters of Tharparkar.
The deputy programme manager at Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI) in Sindh, Dr Kazi was often praised by federal authorities and international donor agencies for her active role in polio vaccinations drives in the province, especially Karachi.
During a recent meeting in Karachi, the state minister for national health services Saira Afzal Tarar had praised Dr Kazi for her efforts and achievements in being able to vaccinate 99 percent children in the last immunisation drive in the city, including the high-risk union councils, despite security threats and unavailability of adequate security to vaccinators.
The Sindh health secretary Iftikhar Shallwani confirmed Dr Kazi’s transfer to Mithi but termed it as a “routine transfer and posting”.
He said in government service, no one was permanently kept on one position.
“Even I can be transferred somewhere any moment,” he said. “Strict directives had been issued to EPI officials associated with polio vaccination and routine immunisation to work up to expectations and refrain from showing slackness, otherwise they would have to face the consequences.”
Dr Kazi said she had no idea why she was suddenly ordered to report to Mithi but sources in the Sindh government claimed that a few influential officials were not happy with Mustafa Jamal Kazi, a former deputy commissioner and an official of the revenue department, whose refusals to accept some “unjustified demands” had prompted the transfer of his wife to a remote part of the province.
The sources were not ready to divulge the details of the demands put before Dr Kazi’s husband.
On the other hand, officials of World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef and federal authorities also expressed their “disappointment” over the sudden transfer of EPI official to Mithi and said they were closely monitoring the situation and might make an intervention to prevent her ouster from the EPI.
An official of the federal health ministry while speaking on the condition of anonymity said the EPI Sindh had, after many years, had a dedicated official who was doing her best to make the polio vaccination campaigns successful. They said all monitoring agencies too were satisfied with the performance of EPI under Dr Kazi’s command. The federal official maintained that the matter was in the knowledge of state health minister and she was going to take up the issue with the Sindh government soon. — M. Waqar Bhatti