KARACHI: As the date for the launch of a special polio campaign in 51 union councils draws closer, the city administration has asked deputy commissioners to form special committees to address the persisting problems due to which children missed previous campaigns, say officials on Wednesday.

At a meeting at the office of the Karachi commissioner, coordinator and consultant of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) of the Sindh government and representatives of the World Health Organisation and the UNICEF, Commissioner Ejaz Ahmed Khan asked the deputy commissioners of the six districts to resolve the issue of children missing vaccination in polio drives, said officials.

The meeting discussed the issues with regard to the polio campaign in Karachi and preparations for the polio campaign in the 51 UCs, which was scheduled to begin on July 25.

The UCs, the details of which would be made public later, had been selected on the basis that the number of children who missed the booster previously was significantly alarming in these areas, said officials.

Officials said the children included those whose families had refused to immunise their children as well as those who could not be found by volunteer teams during their visits.

The authorities have been asked to submit progress reports for perusal of the commissioner through the Commissioner Karachi Polio Task Force every week.

Besides, officials said, the district administrations had been asked to ensure that the district polio control rooms (DPCRs) held morning meetings regularly.

The order had been sent after noticing that the DPCRs were not holding their morning meetings regularly, which, otherwise, were mandatory to pass on the directions and decisions to the members, partners and field staff, officials said.

The deputy commissioners had been asked to preside over or appoint a deputy for the purpose if the DC was engaged in an imperative commitment to hold morning meeting on a regular basis at 9.30am and send report to the commissioner’s office the same afternoon. “All the world is looking at us and weighing our efforts for eradication of poliovirus,” said the commissioner.

The EOC officials said a micro plan about the upcoming polio campaign had already been put in place, which included the number of polio teams and security measures.

For security, the meeting was informed that the Sindh police would provide police guards as per requirement in the designated neighbourhoods.

“Eradicating polio from the country is a national cause for which we are consuming all resources available to us,” said the commissioner.

Officials said the coming campaign was part of a series of drives, which the polio task force for Sindh had planned in a bid to fully eradicate the crippling disease, especially in the city, in the least possible time.

Earlier, a campaign for the entire city had been planned which was scheduled to start on July 18. However, later, it was decided to divide the effort in a series of campaigns to effectively make the entire city free from poliovirus. All the security organisations would pool their efforts for the campaign to safeguard volunteers.

Officials said that steps were being taken to ensure that no child was left out during the campaign for which closer coordination with the communities would be developed.

They said that a fresh micro plan was being prepared, which would give updated picture about all the indicators and figures vis-a-vis the next polio campaigns.

Officials at the meeting claimed that their past efforts had helped in improving the situation in the city, which was evident from the figures and greater assistance by religious personalities and communities in sensitive neighbourhoods.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2016