QUETTA: The coordinator of Emergency Operation Cell (EOC) of Balochistan, Dr Saifur Rehman, said on Monday that the government would take action against those schools or seminaries which had refused to get their students vaccinated against poliovirus during a recent campaign conducted in the province.

Presiding over a meeting after assuming the charge of EOC coordinator, Dr Rehman said all efforts would be made for the success of polio eradication drive.

Officials of Unicef, World Health Organisation and other international bodies attended the meeting.

“The government has declared an emergency in Pakistan to tackle the crippling disease,” he said, adding that negligence on the part of officials involved in the campaign would not be tolerated at any cost.

Emergency Operation Cell warns schools, seminaries

He announced that legal action would be taken against schools and religious seminaries which did not allow vaccinators to administer polio drops to their students.

The refusal or creating hurdles in the work of vaccinators was a crime, therefore, action would be taken against those found involved, he added.

Dr Rehman said the government would register cases against those union council medical officers who had submitted forged documents about missed and not available children during the vaccination campaign.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2015

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