HYDERABAD, Nov 21: The director-general of health services, Sindh, Qadir Bux Memon, has hoped that polio will be totally eradicated from the province very soon.

He was speaking at the meeting of provincial surveillance review, organized by the expanded programme for immunization (EPI) project and the World Health Organization here on Thursday.

He said that unless the surveillance system was streamlined, ‘we would keep on facing problems in the eradication of polio.’

He said that he had set up a special cell for the eradication of polio in his office.

The EPI project director, Dr Shamsunnisa Ansari, said that the surveillance system in Sindh had greatly improved and the surveillance indicators in the province were better when compared to the other provinces. She added that feedback and reporting system was also very good in Sindh.

She said that whenever an acute flaccid paralysis case was reported, stool of the suspected patient was sent to the Islamabad laboratory in 48 hours to determine whether or not it was a polio case.

The national surveillance coordinator of the WHO, Dr Tahir Mahar, said that in order to improve the surveillance systems, awareness would have to be created among local doctors.

The polio medical officer of WHO, Dr Mohammad Azmodey, gave his opinion on the surveillance data of Sindh.

A large number of local experts, associated with the anti-polio programme, attended the meeting.