QUETTA: A three-day polio immunisation campaign will begin in 15 districts of Balochistan on Monday.

The coordinator of the Emergency Operation Centre in Balochistan, Syed Faisal Ahmed, said on Sunday that in the first phase of the immunisation campaign 15 districts would be covered. He added that the campaign in other 15 districts of the province had been postponed due to forecast of heavy rainfall there this week.

The districts where the campaign will begin on Monday included Gwadar, Dera Bugti, Turbat, Kachi, Lasbella, Khuzdar, Naseerabad, Jaffarabd, Jhalmagsi, Awaran, Chagai and Nushki. As many as 2,446,000 children would be administered polio drops in the 15 districts.

Mr Ahmed said that over 8,000 teams would take part in the campaign, adding that around 7,000 of them were mobile teams which would go from door to door. He said over 800 teams would work at camps in cities and town and 637 at camps to be set up at transit points.

He expressed concern over presence of poliovirus in the environmental samples of Quetta and Qilla Saifullah and said efforts were under way to eradicate polio from the two districts.

He called upon the people to cooperate with the immunisation team for the success of the campaign.

He also sought help of the media, members of civil society and religious leaders for making the campaign successful.

Published in Dawn January 16th, 2017