PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra has ordered stepped up efforts to eradicate poliovirus from Fata by March this year.

We are very much close to polio eradication in Fata, he said, while speaking at a ceremony to launch the first polio eradication campaign of 2017 at the Governor’s House here on Monday. He administered oral polio vaccine to children and urged parents to ensure vaccination of their children.

“We are here today with an understanding to make Fata polio-free by March 2017,” the governor told those in attendance.

Mr Jhagra said political commitment, involvement of civil society, religious scholars and media had played a vital role in achieving appreciable results in the anti-polio campaigns.

He appreciated the efforts of parents, the communities, Levies force, Pak Army and polio teams for achieving targets in Fata.

The governor said he was confident that with the support of security agencies, polio teams could meet any challenge to reach out to every nook and corner of the tribal region to vaccinate children against the crippling disease.

Anti-polio drive begins in tribal region, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

“The emergency operation centre, parliamentarians, and ulema have also played their part in bringing Fata close to polio eradication,” he maintained.

“However, we cannot afford to relax now and have to ensure that we defeat the poliovirus in the next three campaigns of 2017,” he stressed.

In Timergara, Lower Dir Deputy Commissioner Irfanullah Wazir and DHO Shaukat Ali vaccinated children at the DHQ hospital, Timergara, during a function to begin the three-day anti-polio drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

On the occasion, the officials said the district had been polio-free for the last eight years. They said Lower Dir had got second position in the province for successful drive against polio. The deputy commissioner directed all the stakeholders to make the campaign a success.

In Khar, the three-day anti polio targets to immunise over 229,000 children.

An official in the agency surgeon office told Dawn that three days were for active campaign while one day was specified for catch-up activities to cover the missed children.

According to the official, 700 teams, including mobile, fixed and transit, have been constituted for the purpose. He said special security measures had been taken to ensure security of vaccinators.

The official pointed out that the agency had been declared polio-free since November 2012.

In Shangla, anti-polio campaign began on Monday despite the heavy snowfall.

According to EPI coordinator, Shangla, Wajid Ali Khan, 174,160 children would be vaccinated during the drive, for which, 728 teams had been formed.

In Mansehra, the polio campaign couldn’t kick off in three snowbound union councils.

“We had dispatched polio teams to snowbound hilly areas in the district but they couldn’t reach there because of heavy snowfall,” Dr Shahzad Ali, the district health officer, told reporters at a ceremony to start polio campaign.

Dr Ali said because of snowfall the polio teams couldn’t reach Kaghan, Hungrai and Hilkot union councils on first day of the drive. As and when the situation clears we will cover these leftover union councils, he added.

Also in the day, district superintendent polio Tariq Hussain launched the polio drive by administering drops to children in Oghi.

Mr Hussain told the gathering that as many as 287,000 children would be vaccinated during the campaign, for which 920 teams had been constituted.

In Kohat, district health officials said that polio drops would be administered to 13,000 Afghan children living in the camps who are much exposed to the incurable disease.

MPA Ziaullah Bangash stated that since 2014 no polio case had been reported in the district. Launching a four-day anti-polio vaccination drive at the women and children hospital on Monday, he directed monitoring of the staff working at the rural and far flung areas to achieve the target. He said action would be taken against the negligent staff.

Briefing the MPA, district health officer said 180,000 children in the 33 union councils of the district would be vaccinated. He said 630 mobile, 64 fixed, three roaming and 23 transit teams had been formed.

Published in Dawn January 17th, 2017