QUETTA: The Balochis­tan government will provide adequate security to polio workers during vaccination campaigns, officials said.

A meeting of the provincial security coordination committee at the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) observed on Monday that the campaign conducted in two phases had failed to yield desired results.

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Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani informed the meeting that there would be only one phase of the next campaign in Quetta.

The meeting was attended by Commissioner of Quetta Kambar Dashti, EOC chair Dr Syed Saifur Rehman, Quetta police chief Abdul Razzaq Cheema, Access Specialist of Unicef Ghulam Dastageer and officials of the World Health Organisation and the Frontier Corps.

Dr Rehman briefed the meeting about inadequate security cover because of which the last campaign had been postponed and requirement of security personnel for the coming round.

The meeting noted that the last round of the campaign could not be held in Quetta, Zhob and Sherani districts because of lack of security but it was carried out in Qila Saifullah, Musakhel, Loralai and Sibi districts as scheduled.

Referring to concern raised by representatives of partner agencies at the meeting, security officials said security would not be a problem in the coming campaigns.

“Security forces will ensure that parents do not refuse to allow their children to be administered vaccines,” the home secretary said.

He said that required number of police and security personnel would be deployed during the campaign in Quetta.

“The eradication of polio has always been a top priority of the government,” he said.

Mr Durrani said a senior police official would soon be deployed at the EOC on a permanent basis to improve coordination between the partner organisations and law-enforcement agencies. The IG of Balochistan will nominate the official soon.

The committee was informed that 78 per cent decline had been recorded in detection of polio cases in the province this year. Four polio cases have been detected in the province this year so far.

The meeting noted that even Afghanistan was doing better than Pakistan in the fight against polio and no case had been detected in Nigeria over the past one year. “It is high time we intensified our efforts to eradicate the crippling disease,” the participants said.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2015

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