RAWALPINDI, Oct 13: The provincial health department has set up a monitoring team for supervising the polio vaccination drive in the district, official sources said on Monday.

The five-member team, headed by World Health Organization (WHO) official Dr Abidi Razzaq, comprises Dr Saima, Dr Rukhsana, Dr Nadeem and Dr Iqbal Khan Niazi.

The team leader on Monday allocated different areas of the district to its members. The team will complete its task by Saturday. This monitoring will be in addition to the routine third party evaluation done regularly after the completion of the polio campaign.

District Health Officer Dr Shoaib Khan, confirming the establishment of team, said its role would be monitoring cum support. “It will be helping us in identifying the grey areas, which we will try to eliminate immediately.”

The Rawalpindi district has shown improvement in the coverage of polio vaccination. The coverage rates have improved over years from 85 per cent to 95.5 per cent.

This improvement has been largely possible due to better coverage of the Cantonment areas, where the health department previously faced difficulties.

As many as 220 army personnel are providing assistance during the campaign being held in Rawalpindi from October 14-16. The armymen will perform the duty in cantonment areas. Several other civilian departments are also extending a helping hand in this regard.

Earlier, local health authorities had boosted the Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance in the district following reports of recirculation of polio virus in the central areas of Punjab, which were on the verge of becoming polio free.

So far, 21 AFP cases have been reported from the district, all of which tested negative for polio.

No case of polio has been reported in the district for the past over two-and-a-half-year.

Meanwhile, a three-day polio vaccination campaign, in which 5,60,780 children below the age of five years in Rawalpindi district will be vaccinated against polio, has been launched.

The children over the age of six months will be provided Vitamin-A supplement as well.