PESHAWAR/KHAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will begin the national immunisation campaign in the province tomorrow (Monday), while the campaign for public awareness of dengue fever will be launched in Swat, Shangla and Buner districts by April 6.

“The campaign will get underway in all districts except those, where the Sehat Ka Insaf programme is already in place,” provincial health minister Shaukat Yousafzai said during a seminar ‘polio eradication, Sehat Ka Insaf programme and vitamin A administration’ at the Peshawar Press Club on Saturday.

The seminar was organised by the health department under the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa director (health services) Dr Waheedullah Barki, EPI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa deputy director Dr Janbaz Afridi, representatives of WHO and Unicef, health experts, journalists, parents, and civil society activists also participated in the event.

The minister said the campaign for polio eradication would not be carried out in Peshawar district as the children below the age of five years were already being vaccinated to save them from polio and eight other diseases under the Sehat Ka Insaf programme in the district.

He said the government had gradually extended the special vaccination campaign to Nowshera, Mardan, Charsadda and Swabi districts.

“We have set the target of immunising more than 1.6 million children against polio and other eight diseases in four rounds by launching special Sehat Ka Insaf campaign in Nowshera, Swabi, Charsadda and Mardan,” he said.

Mr Yousafzai said to prevent possible outbreak of dengue in Malakand division, an awareness campaign would be launched in Swat, Shangla and Buner districts by April 6.

He said seminars, walks and consultative meetings would be organised to create public awareness of ways and means to prevent and control dengue.

About the criticism of the opposition regarding transparency in utilisation of Immunisation campaign begins in KP tomorrow health funds under of Sehat Ka Insaf programme, the minister said WHO and Unicef were directly spending funds on the programme, while the provincial government and health department had been extending technical support and other facilities to them to make the anti-polio drive successful in Peshawar.

Regarding delay in payment of salary to lady health workers (LHWs), Mr Yousafzai said the federal government was responsible for paying salary to LHWs in light of the 18th Constitutional Amendment and as the centre delayed release of money, the due payments got delayed.

He, however, said the provincial government had decided to ensure payment of salaries to LHWs from own funds until the federal government released funds for the purpose.

“The salary will be disbursed to LHWs next week,” he said.

Later, the minister formally inaugurated the eighth round of Sehat Ka Insaf programme by administrating anti-polio and Vitamin-A drops to children.

ARRANGEMENTS FINALISED:

The local administration on Saturday finalised arrangements for the three-day polio campaign slated to begin tomorrow (Monday).

During the campaign, 227,000 children will be vaccinated across the agency.

A meeting of the local administration in this respect was held here with Bajaur Agency political agent Abdul Jabbar Shah in the chair.

Agency surgeon Dr Zakir Hussain and other senior officials of the local administration and health department were in attendance.

The participants discussed the strategy for the security of health workers and other issues related to the upcoming anti-polio campaign in the agency.

The meeting decided that the administration would provide levies personnel to health workers during the campaign, while tribal elders and volunteers of village defence committee of the related areas would also be deployed with them.

It also decided that only male health workers would take a part in the campaign for security reasons.