QUETTA: Balochistan’s Chief Secretary Aurangzeb Haque has urged society at large to play its role in eradication of polio.

Presiding over a special meeting on Friday, he said: “We want to provide a healthy future to our upcoming generation. We are utilising all resources and making efforts to free the masses from the scourge of polio forever.”

Health Secretary Asmatullah Kakar, the deputy inspector general, commissioners, district health officers and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and World Health Organisation attended the meeting.

Mr Haque said that effective efforts by doctors and health workers were yielding positive results, adding that community-level awareness was necessary to encourage public participation in polio eradication programme.

He asked the local administration to provide security to the polio eradication teams to ensure that children in remote and rural areas were vaccinated without any difficulty. No leniency would be tolerated in the regard, he added.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2017