RAWALPINDI: Though the three-day anti-polio campaign will formally start on November 20 (Monday), the district administration inaugurated the drive at Dehri Hassanabad on Saturday.

The drive was scheduled to be inaugurated by Deputy Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal but he was busy in meetings and in his place Additional Deputy Commissioner Finance Atif Rao opened the campaign by administering polio drops to a child at a dispensary.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Suhail Ahmed and other senior officials were present on the occasion.

Pirwadhai has been declared the most critical area between Rawalpindi and Islamabad for the presence of the active poliovirus.

Speaking on the occasion, the additional deputy commissioner directed the health authority to ensure each and every child in the district was vaccinated.

He said the district administration would provide all the needed facilities to the vaccinators during the drive. He said for the security of the teams, police had been asked to make arrangements.

Dr Suhail Butt informed the official that during the campaign 823,843 children in the 197 union councils would be administered anti-polio drops.

He said 287 teams had been deployed at permanent places while 124 mobile teams would administer polio drops to children at different places. He said there were a total 2,198 teams in the district which would visit door-to-door to vaccinate the children.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Suhail Ahmed told Dawn that there were very few refusal cases in Rawalpindi.

“Mostly male members of families object to the vaccination while mothers are always ready to get their children vaccinated without any delay,” he added.

He said the health authority had involved political and religious leaders in the campaign to deal with any hurdle, adding there was no issue of refusal in the district.

When asked about the inauguration of the drive before its start, the official said it was a tradition to get the campaign inaugurated by the head of the district.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2017