ISLAMABAD: Although the capital is considered one of the country’s safest cities in terms of the poliovirus, the polio eradication programme warned on Wednesday that a resurgence of the poliovirus was possible if the E-11, F-11 and G-13 sectors did not receive special attention.

During a briefing held by Dr Rana Safdar, national coordinator of the Emergency Operation Centre for Polio, participants were also told that Islamabad city has reported 84pc coverage in polio vaccination campaigns, which needs urgent improvement.

“The poliovirus has been found in the sectors’ environmental samples, due to which the resurgence of the poliovirus cannot be ignored. To me, the basic reason is slums in the sectors and in areas near sectors, and sewerage, which flows from the nullahs of those sectors,” National Health Services (NHS) Minister Saira Afzal Tarar, who chaired the meeting, told Dawn.

“I have personally visited the slums of those sectors and was shocked to see the situation. There were a number of structures and it was impossible to reach them, due to which there are high chances of missing children during every campaign,” she said.

Polio eradication programme warns that sectors E-11, F-11 and G-13 can be vulnerable if special attention not given

She added that of the 24 slums in the city only 10 are regulated by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).

“Unfortunately, the situation in CDA sectors is worse than areas controlled by the Islamabad district administration or assistant commissioners,” she said.

In response to a question, Ms Tarar said it was “not acceptable at all” that Islamabad was reporting 84pc coverage when remote areas have over 90pc coverage.

“Because of the poor performance, we have decided to number the houses and structures and collect data on the number of children residing in each house. They will be tracked if they shift from those houses, because that is the only way to improve the coverage rate,” she said.

“I have decided to take the CDA chairman and Islamabad chief commissioner on board. There are issues in ICT areas, but the situation in areas controlled by the CDA is even worse. Unfortunately, trained staff is also not available, due to which we have demanded 300 permanent staff from the CDA to use them only for polio campaigns.”

“We will train them, and despite the fact that polio campaigns are not held in hot weather, it has been decided to hold another campaign on July 10,” Ms Tarar said.

Polio vaccination campaigns are held during the low transmission season – from September to May – as the vaccine is more effective in lower temperatures.

The NHS minister said medical camps will be set up in slum areas to strengthen the immunity of children who live in slums.

According to an official statement issued by the ministry, it was decided during a high-level polio review meeting that urgent steps must be taken to fill the human resource gaps in the polio vaccination campaign to bolster the effort in Islamabad.

The meeting was attended by senior CDA officials, the additional capital administration and development division secretary, the additional Islamabad deputy commissioner, the CDA’s health administration and representatives from General Headquarters.

Ms Tarar said 12 high-risk union councils in Islamabad require special attention, with additional human resources and special monitoring teams that consist of senior officials.

“We need to cover sectors E-11, F-11 and G-13 with additional focus so that no child is missed. The minister directed that each home be properly marked as evidence of team visiting the house for polio immunization,” statement read.

The minister directed each polio vaccination team to maintain a list of missed children from each campaign so they can be covered in the subsequent campaign.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2017