Interim CM lauds polio eradication programme’s progress

Expressing happiness that not a single polio case has been reported from Sindh so far this year, Caretaker Chief Minister Fazalur Rehman has lauded the efforts of polio eradication officers, frontline workers and security personnel who have been instrumental in curtailing the spread of poliovirus in Karachi.

The interim chief minister chaired a meeting of the provincial taskforce on polio at the CM House on Monday wherein Fayyaz Jatoi, the coordinator of the Sindh Emergency Operation Centre for Polio, briefed him on the progress made in polio eradication efforts in the province and the country.

Jatoi informed the interim CM that in 2014, 306 polio cases were reported in the country of which 30 were from Sindh, including 23 from Karachi alone. He said that with consistent efforts and government ownership of the polio eradication programme, the number of reported cases in Pakistan was significantly brought down by 2017 to just eight, of which only two were reported from Karachi, Sindh.

Jatoi added only three polio cases have been reported from the country this year, and none of them were from Sindh. According to him, the creation of the EOCs resulted in better management of the eradication programme while the strategy of community-based vaccination yielded good results as well.

However, the EOC coordinator stressed on the importance of continuing the hard work because the polio virus does get detected in environmental samples from time to time.

Regarding the concerning issue of refusals, the CM was told that most of them happen because of misconceptions and the EOC is engaging with the communities to convince and undo these refusal cases.

Jatoi said that following the reported incident in Nawabshah there was a big spike in refusals but things were now slowly going back to normal. He requested the CM to support the campaign in making schools accept the proposal of letting teams vaccinate students during the respective polio drives, especially in district West of Karachi where the number of schools refusing has increased. To this, the CM directed the education department to issue a notification to urge such school to welcome polio teams when they visit.

It was pointed out during the meeting that there were some challenges to the programme such as vacant posts of district health officers (DHOs) and frequent migration patterns of populations to and from high-risk areas. The provincial task force also decided to support the EOC in appointing vaccinators in interior Sindh as well as engagement of NGOs working on water, sanitation and hygiene in critical areas such as Gadap Town in Karachi.

Sindh EOC Technical Coordinator Shahnaz Wazir Ali told the gathering that the polio programme in Pakistan started in 1994 and was inaugurated by late prime minister Benazir Bhutto who vaccinated her own children to mark the occasion.

She said that with time the structures in the health care system vis-a-vis polio have strengthened and we are now on the last mile of polio eradication. She warned though that as long as the virus keeps showing up in the environment, we cannot be complacent and must double our efforts.

Minister for Health Dr Sadia Rizvi said she was very impressed with the way the polio programme is structured and the relentless efforts of all those involved that has brought down the case count in the province.

The meeting was attended by the health minister, chief secretary, the secretaries for health, finance, home, education and literacy departments, the Sindh EOC technical coordinator, EOC Focal Person Dr Ahmad Ali Shaikh, Karachi Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar, Karachi Commissioner Mr Muhammad Sualeh Ahmad Farooqi, the team leads from UNICEF and WHO, while the commissioners from interior Sindh districts participated through video link.

A polio drive kicked off in select districts – Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana – on Monday and will continue till July 6.