KARACHI: Polio teams not doing enough in Sindh: WHO official says...
By Nizamuddin Siddiqui
KARACHI, April 29: The WHO’s director for Eastern Mediterranean Region expressed dismay at the government officials’ inability to get a grip on polio during his meetings on Tuesday with the Sindh governor and the chief minister.
Dr Hussein A. Gezairy informed the governor and the chief minister that 13 out of 21 polio cases had been reported from Northern Sindh, making it the most active area for polio virus. He urged them to make eradication of polio their top priority.
Later the WHO’s regional director interrupted a presentation being made by the provincial director-general of health to impress upon the officials present the value of dedication and hard work. Given a will it was possible to resolve the toughest of problems, he said.
Dr Gezairy, who was given a premier’s protocol during his visit to the city, in his meetings with the governor and the chief minister, said the teams of vaccinators were not going door-to-door. The resources available were also not being used properly.
Most members of the teams were not from the local community, thereby creating problems for supervisors to reach a majority of the children in their areas, the governor and the chief minister were told.
The WHO’s regional director appealed to the top officials of Sindh to take personal interest in the polio campaign. He actually asked them to participate in every launching ceremony of the promotional and awareness campaigns.
In their meetings, both the governor and the chief minister agreed to create polio cells in their offices so that they could remain well-informed about the status of the disease.
The WHO people could also use this facility to monitor the progress in the anti-polio campaign.
During the presentation by Sindh’s director-general health, Dr Gezairy made it clear that a feeble response towards the issue would simply not be tolerated.
The health department should ensure that the officials who had performed well in this area were appreciated and those who did not were “punished”.
The WHO’s regional director informed the health department officials that both the governor and the chief minister had agreed to extend cooperation. He said high birth rate, high population density, poor sanitation and rapid movement of people were problems with which the health officials had to live with.
“For these problems, we cannot do much at the moment. But poor routine immunization and below-par quality of campaigns are something which are not acceptable,” said the WHO’s director.
He urged the officials to bring on board the Imams, who could give sermons over the issue of immunization. “Not doing enough about the problem was un-Islamic.”
When asked about the efficacy of the vaccines being used in the polio campaigns, Dr Gezairy said these were of the highest quality. “We are using the same vaccines that are being used around the world.
“Let there be no doubt. The vaccines being used are of the best quality available.” The WHO’s regional director said his organization was doing its best to monitor the quality of the vaccines during transportation and storage.
“The cold chain issue is being looked into all the time.” He told all those present that equipment had been provided to the vaccinators and their supervisors to make sure that the vaccines are not spoilt during transportation and storage.
On the occasion, Sindh’s DG Health — Dr Qadir Bakhsh Memon — had said that frequent transfer of the dedicated and sincere EDOs created problems vis-a-vis implementation of health department’s programmes.
Dr Memon said that during 2000, 60 cases of polio were reported from 17 districts of the province. In 2003, 13 cases have been reported from six districts.
Dr Khalif Bille of the WHO said a polio case involving a child was just a small statistic for the health officials. “But for the family involved, it is a catastrophe.”
Dr Bille urged the health secretary to involve the nazims and naib nazims in the campaign against polio. Dr Rehan Hafiz, national chief of the Expanded Programme on Immunization, also spoke.
MINISTER: Sindh Minister for Population Welfare and Women Development said on Tuesday that Sindh government is striving hard to protect the rights of women by ensuring their basic needs, including health and education, adds APP.
She said this during a briefing to the Regional Director of World Health Organisation (WHO) Dr. Hussein A. Gezairy and other officials regarding the women and child health-based operations. The WHO delegates are on the visit of Pakistan to observe the situation with regard to women and children.
She said that women of Pakistani society are suffering from various type of violence and they required a place to discuss their problems along with the facilities of legal consultancy towards their problems.
The minister said that Islam has also guaranteed the rights of women, therefore, it is also our priority to ensure and protect the rights of women.
