Polio campaign aiming to vaccinate 10 million children to begin in Sindh from 23rd May.

Karachi (HRNW) An important meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Polio Eradication was held at the Sindh Secretariat under the co-chairmanship of Chief Secretary Sindh Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput and Provincial Minister for Health Dr Azra Pechoho. The meeting was attended by Commissioner Karachi Muhammad Iqbal Memon, Secretary Local Government Syed Najam Ahmad Shah, Secretary School Education Ghulam Akbar Leghari, Coordinator Emergency Operations Center Fayyaz Abbasi, Global Polio Director UNICEF lauwerier Steven Jane, COPPHI Javed Ali and representatives of Rotary International while all the divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners have participated through video link.

The meeting reviewed the situation after 3 cases of polio were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Presiding over the meeting, Chief Secretary Sindh Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput said that polio campaign should be started effectively in high risk UCs. “No negligence will be tolerated in the polio campaign” Said CS Sindh. He further directed all Deputy Commissioners should monitor the polio campaign and submit report on departure basis. He further said that on the direction of Chief Minister Sindh, all the provincial ministers, MNAs and MPAs would inaugurate the polio campaign in different districts. During the meeting, Provincial Minister for Health Dr. Azra Pechoho said that 10 million children would be vaccinated against polio during the polio campaign starting from 23rd May to 28th May 2022 and more than 75,000 vaccinators and supervisors would take part in the campaign. She further said that no case of polio has been reported in Sindh for last two years.
In the meeting, Provincial Coordinator Emergency Operations Center Fayyaz Abbasi said that 3 cases of polio have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa this year. He further said that after Eid, polio vaccination camps had been set up at 40 places at the entrances of the province and 167,328 children have been vaccinated against polio in 46515 buses entering the province. It was informed that mapping of high risk UCs of Karachi has been done. Instructing the Sindh Police the Chief Secretary stated that security arrangements for the polio workers should be done on priority basis. He further stated that the parents who earlier refused to vaccinate their children again polio and private schools should also be persuaded to vaccinate the children against the polio virus. It was decided at the meeting that in view of the prevailing weather, the polio campaign would be started early in the morning and in view of the heatwave, the polio team would take breaks in the afternoon.

At the meeting, Global Polio Director UNICEF lauwerier Steven Jane praised the Sindh government’s anti-polio strategy.