Anti-polio drive staff trained

LAHORE:The Polio Programme on Thursday completed first phase of supervisor trainings all over the Punjab. In the first phase, which continued for a week, over 10,000 anti-polio team area incharges and their 3,800 district supervisors were imparted training. In Lahore alone, over 1,000 team supervisors were given training on polio tally sheet analysis, vaccine management and team management.

In the second phase, which will begin from Monday November 23, over 48,000 anti-polio teams will receive training on various tasks. They include door-marking, vaccine administration, finger marking, inter-personal communication and vaccine efficacy. The trainings are being imparted to build capacity of polio teams and their supervisors ahead of the anti-polio national immunization drive starting from November 30. According to a handout released by the Emergency Operations Centre of Punjab, strict COVID SOPs are being observed during the trainings.

The anti-polio teams’ capacity will be built in vaccine cold chain maintenance, vaccination of children, route map development, data collection on tally sheets and inter-personal communication”, read the handout released on Thursday. According to the instructions of Ms Sundas Irshad, head of the Polio Programe in Punjab, appealed to the parents to vaccinate children in the upcoming campaign in order to save their children from the crippling disease and rid the country of the virus.

PU ceremony: Punjab University’s Institute of Applied Psychology (IAP) hosted an award ceremony to acknowledge the services of psychologists during Covid-19. Quaid-i-Azam University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Ali, PU Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, President Punjab University Academic Staff Association Dr Mumtaz Anwar, faculty members and others were present. Pride of the Nation Award for setting up Covid-19 Mental Health Services at the Institute of Applied Psychology was awarded to the Director IAP Dr Rafia Rafique. Dr Afsheen Masood, Assistant Professor, IAP, also received the award for providing psychological and telemedicine services during the Covid-19 period for Covid-19 Mental Health Helpline set up by the Institute of Applied Psychology.