LANDI KOTAL, June 12: The anti-polio vaccination drive would be resumed in Bara subdivision of Khyber Agency on Monday after nearly 20 months of suspension, health officials said.

They said that instead of sending mobile vaccination teams to different areas, vaccination centres were established in the offices of political administration in main Bara Bazaar, Fort Salop, Jansi Fort in Akkakhel and Meelwaat camp.

The officials said that the decision regarding establishing vaccination points at selected sites was taken owing to security situation in most parts of Bara. They said that every effort would me made to vaccinate around 70,000 children under the age of five during the three-day campaign.

The officials said that the drive would be jointly supervised by Mehsud Scouts, Khasadar Force and health workers. However, they said, the valley of Tirah was excluded from the campaign owing to clashes between armed supporters of some militant organisations operating in the area.

Alongside polio vaccination, health authorities have also arranged free medical camps at specified locations where needy residents of Bara would be provided with free treatment and medicine during the three-day drive.

The health officials had to suspend anti-polio campaign in Bara after authorities launched a military operation in the area in September 2009. “The number of children under the age of five in entire Bara subdivision including some parts of Tirah valley was 120,000 before the start of military operation,” an official of health department said.

He said that all those children could not be vaccinated against polio as health workers were reluctant to perform duty in the conflict zone. “Even military officials were reluctant to allow vaccination teams to carry on the drive in Bara owing to security concerns,” he said.

He added that the number of target children might have increased during the last 20 months.

According to official figures 20 children got infected with polio virus during the period when children could not be vaccinated. Eighteen cases of polio were registered in 2010 and two cases in 2011 in Bara. The total number of polio affected children in the entire Khyber Agency, according to official figures, is 35 which is the highest in Fata.

The health authorities with assistance of World Health Organisation devised a mechanism in March this year to control spread of polio virus in Fata and formed civil and military committees to counter any resistance against polio vaccination.