31 July 2004	Saturday	13 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

KARACHI, July 30: Even after 26 rounds of vaccination, polio remained to be eradicated because Pakistan lacked an effective monitoring and feedback system, adviser to Sindh's chief minister on health said on Friday.

Speaking to a delegation of WHO officials in his office, adviser Faisal Malik said to check the performance of 700 vaccinators, the department had appointed 20 supervisors. This number was inadequate and more supervisors should be appointed.

According to a handout, the WHO delegation advized the health adviser that the 'culture of sycophancy and recommendations' be done away with as soon as possible. Merit not recommendation should be the sole criterion for appointments.

They claimed that the anti-polio campaign carried out in Jacobabad was not up to the mark. In the interior of the province, some health department officials exerted pressure on the WHO functionaries to 'extract' positive reports from them, they added.

In response, Mr Malik said he would visit all the important public healthcare centres in the province to ascertain their shortcomings and deficiencies. He assured the WHO functionaries that they would soon start noticing improvements in the performance of the health department officers, said the press release.

Mr Malik said he belonged to a political party which had deep roots in the masses. "This is why we don't believe in the reports and summaries made in the air-conditioned offices of some information technology experts."

He said he would ensure that every step taken by him was in the light of realities on the ground. The grants provided by the WHO were not always utilized in a proper manner, he acknowledged. The foreign-funded projects would be audited so that irregularities, if any, could be unearthed, he promised.