Polio drive in high risk districts from Oct 7

LAHORE
Punjab will hold polio campaign as part of Sub National Immunization Day (SNID) in seven districts of the province from October 7 to 9, announced Punjab Health Services Director General Dr Zahid Pervaiz announced on Tuesday.
The campaign will be launched in high risk seven districts Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan. According to a handout, Punjab still completing 14-day catch up activity of September’s National Immunization Day and in a bid to boost polio eradication efforts, the SNID will be conducted in the districts. “Even though we did not have a polio case since December 2014, Punjab faces a challenge of viral transmission from reservoir areas of other provinces through inter provincial movement of migrant population,” said the Health DG.
Punjab’s Director of Expanded Programme on Immunization Dr Munir Ahmed said: “Over the past six months, we have had a few positive environmental samples in Lahore and Multan. Campaigns in selected union councils were already conducted in these districts. In our bid to ensure that the province remains polio free, seven districts featuring high on various risk factors have been selected for the campaign,” said Dr Munir Ahmed. He said districts sharing borders as well as strategic routes with other provinces Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Rahimyar Khan will be under special focus and instructions have been passed to the teams to ensure top notch performance. He urged the EDOs to ensure the follow missed areas along with proper evening meetings of teams.