THATTA: The Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) has declared the coastal union council of Kharo Chhan as “RED” (re-filter), it has been reliably learnt by Dawn through official sources.

The emergency operation centre for polio explained to Dawn the criteria on Tuesday: “GREEN” (good), “YELLOW” (needs some improvement) and “RED” (re-filter).

Kharo Chhan was randomly selected out of 12 union councils for the LQAS conducted by third-party partner staff in polio eradication following the July round in Thatta district. The LQAS involved the checking of finger markings of the vaccinated children to verify the reported coverage data. Every time a child is vaccinated, the polio worker concerned marked his/her finger for identification and verification.

Union councils of Kharo Chhan, Chhato Chand, Garho, Buhara, Thatta, Domani, Ghulamullah, Karampur, Sukhpur, Mirpur Sakro and others had been earmarked for the LQAS following the July 2017 polio campaign in Thatta district and the finger markings of the vaccinated children was reported as “RED” in Kharo Chhan. The sampling was conducted in the wake of four polio cases emerging in Badin and Sujawal districts towards the end of last year and a few “missed/forgotten cases” during the campaign in Haji Khan Garano UC of coastal taluka Mirpur Sakro district Thatta.

The district official overseeing the vaccination coverage decided to take urgent steps for a fresh anti-polio vaccine round in the entire boundary areas connecting Badin, Sujawal, Thatta and Tando Mohammad Khan districts to contain spread of polio.

This reporter made various attempts to seek comments of Dr Abdul Fatah Mehar, district health officer and the departmental head responsible for polio campaign after the deputy commissioner, but failed to get any response.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2017