CS launches anti-polio drive

PESHAWAR: Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz has reiterated strong government commitment for polio eradication, saying protection of children from the crippling disease remains the topmost priority of the government.

He said this while inaugurating three-day anti-polio drive in the province at the Police Services Hospital on Friday wherein over 6.41 million children will be inoculated against polio. The campaign will be carried out from September 21 to 25.

Additional Secretary Health (polio) & Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit, DG Health, Dr Niaz Muhammad, Deputy Commissioner Peshawar, Ali Asghar, Director EPI, Dr Saleem, representatives of health department, WHO, UNICEF, N Stops and BMGF were also present on the occasion.

Talking to media persons on the occasion, Dr Kazim Niaz said that a good turnaround has been made in the fight against polio despite challenges as last year at this point in time we had 53 wild polio cases whereas this year we have 22 cases in the province.

However, he hastened on to add that consistent efforts were needed from all relevant quarters to sustain the laurels and escalate it to achieving the goal of polio eradication within the stipulated time-frame.

He paid rich tributes to the frontline workers for waging a war against polio and for visiting house to house to vaccinate and protect our children from lifelong paralysis. Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit, while briefing the media on the campaign, said that a total of 6.41 million children will be administered polio drops in the campaign. A total of 28528 total teams have been constituted out of which 25410 are mobile teams, 1091 transit teams, 163 roaming teams while vaccination will also be carried out on 1864 fixed sites, he added.