South DC praises anti-polio workers at award ceremony

The District South deputy commissioner, Irshad Ali Sodhar, arranged an award ceremony and seminar at the Arts Council of Pakistan on Thursday to appreciate polio workers of the district for their performance in a recent polio campaign.

Veteran actress Bushra Ansari inaugurated the event and administered anti-polio drops to a child. She said parents should come forward in the fight against polio. Polio staff of District South, including union council medical officers, polio officers and communication officers, attended the seminar, the aim of which, according to Sodhar, was to motivate the union council teams for the upcoming polio campaign and distribute appreciation letters to acknowledge the hard work of the field teams.

Addressing the ceremony, the deputy commissioner said the medical staff of District South had shown a remarkable performance in the last anti-polio campaign with maximum coverage. “It was important to appreciate our workers,” he said, adding that even before their last campaign, they arranged some interactive seminars with their ground teams.

“Our administrative officers were also involved in the field work and we kept the community engaged,” he said. According to him, the reason behind the success of the anti-polio campaign in the district was the involvement and appreciation of their frontline workers and involvement of the local community.

Sodhar, who has also carried out a successful anti-polio campaign in Peshawar that received international appreciation, recalled the Peshawar campaign and said that he pledged to do the same work in District South.

The deputy commissioner also announced a cash reward of Rs2,000 for their 30 field staff who were also awarded certificates in the ceremony. Sindh Health Secretary Kazim Jatoi lauded the anti-polio teams as well as all the health officials of District South for their performance. He said the teams had been working tremendously for the cause of public health. He remarked that the health teams of District South were also following and implementing the standard operating procedures for the Covid-19 pandemic.