RAWALPINDI: The anti-measles campaign in the district has been extended by one day – till February 10 – to achieve 100pc coverage.

The decision was taken after the provincial government expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of the district health department.

The campaign was launched in Rawalpindi district on January 26 to vaccinate 1.386 million children from the age of six months to 10 years.

However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) conducted a third-party evaluation of the campaign in all the 36 districts of the province and presented its mid-campaign report to the health department. According to the report, the district achieved 35th place among the districts.

Lahore topped with 100 per cent coverage while the lowest coverage was observed in Rajanpur.

After getting the report, the Punjab health secretary, Jawad Raffique Malik, called a meeting on February 5 in Lahore which was attended by all executive district officers (health).

The meeting was told that all the districts should ensure 100 per cent areas under their administrative control otherwise disciplinary action would be taken.

The participants were also informed that the WHO team had found many schools unattended in Rawalpindi, especially in the cantonment areas and Rawal Town union councils.

Meanwhile, the district health department asked the union councils and area in-charges to speed up work to achieve the target.

However, the in-charges of 10 union councils in Rawal Town and six wards of the cantonment areas sought an extension of one day to the campaign as a number of schools were yet to allow the teams to vaccinate their students.

When contacted, Deputy District Officer Dr Ahsan Ghani said in some areas of the cantonment and city the campaign had been extended to February 10.

“The delay occurred as some schools sought time to get approval from parents for vaccination of their children.

However, the administration of these schools and health department decided to vaccinate the children on Monday and Tuesday on the last days of the campaign,” he said.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2015

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