PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department on Sunday extended Sehat Ka Insaf programme to Mardan, Charsadda and Swabi districts to protect children against the vaccine-preventable childhood ailments.

Senior Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, who also holds health portfolio, told a news conference in Peshawar that two more campaigns would be run in those districts as part of Sehat Ka Insaf programme, which completed its 10 round in Peshawar out of the total 12.

He said that the campaign was moving in right direction. He urged the parents to ensure immunisation of their children. He said that vaccination was being done on Sundays to find children at their homes besides having had services of policemen to protect vaccinators.

The response of people was tremendous as the local population supported the effort aimed at protecting their children from avoidable diseases, the minister said. He added that second, third and fourth round of the programme would be held on 13th, 20th and 27th of the current month respectively. The drive would be completed in four rounds, he said.

Mr Tarakai said that provincial government was committed to provide maximum health facilities to inhabitants of the province. He said that the programme was part of the government’s mission to prevent coming generation from dangerous diseases.

“I appeal to people to fully cooperate with government in this connection. They should not feel any hesitation while administering vaccine to their children as these vaccines are free from all kinds of dangerous things,” he said.

The minister said that people should not be influenced by any disinformation or propaganda about the anti-polio drops by some anti-social elements, who did not want see Pakistan as a developed and advanced state.

He lauded police for providing security to anti-polio staff during the campaign. He said that it was joint responsibility of the society to play role in providing health facilities to common people.

In Mardan, the authorities vaccinated 297,205 children against vaccine-preventable diseases. About 21,056 children were missed either due to their inaccessibility or refusal by their parents. They will be covered shortly, according to officials.

Provincial Minister for Education Mohammad Atif said that the programme was designed to reduce child-related diseases. “It will continue till vaccination of all children,” he said.In Charsadda, a total of 228,890 children were administered oral vaccine. Authorities said they couldn’t reach 17,717 children during the campaign.

In Peshawar, 652964 were given oral drops with the help of 4,202 teams.

Earlier, the minister inaugurated Sehat Ka Insaf programme in Swabi, Mardan and Charsadda. He said that government accorded top priority to the vaccination programme to safeguard children from disabilities.

In all the four districts, the volunteers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf took active part in the campaign. The PTI leaders were also present during the inauguration ceremonies held in connection with extension of Sehat Ka Insaf in to their respective districts.

Health officials said that PTI local leadership provided support to the vaccinators at the union council level.