HYDERABAD, Sept 7: The district health officer of Hyderabad has announced that an anti-polio campaign will be run in Hyderabad between Sept 10 and Sept 12.

Speaking at a press conference held here on Friday, Dr Bux Ali Pitafi appealed to parents and guardians of children under five years of age to cooperate with the teams administering the anti-polio vaccine to children.

He also urged religious leaders and managements of seminaries to assist the teams in administering the vaccine to children because it had been observed that in some areas people did not welcome the teams and in some cases they even harassed the team members.

“Without the cooperation of parents and religious leaders, we cannot successfully control this crippling disease,” he said.

Explaining the objectives of the campaign, he said that 285,664 children would be administered the polio vaccine during this drive.

He said that 704 mobile teams had been formed, 88 fixed centres set up and 37 transit points established.

He added that this time round the number of teams had been increased by 25 in the district.

He said that officers of 53 union councils (UCs), seven taluka supervisors, 169 area in-charges and representatives of the World Health Organization, Unicef, officials of the health department and the deputy commissioner of Hyderabad would monitor the campaign.

He urged the people to cooperate with the visiting teams to make drive success.

He said that parents must contact the district health office, if a visiting team failed to reach their houses.

He said that from January 2012 a total of 29 case of polio were reported so far in the country — three in Sindh, one each in Hyderabad, Larkana and Sukkur, three in Balochistan, two in Punjab, eight in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 13 in Fata.

He said that in 2011, a total of 198 polio cases were reported in the country.

A total of 123 children were currently suffering from this disease across the world while 650 cases of polio were reported throughout world in 2011, he added.