RAWALPINDI: The district health department will start a three-day polio vaccination drive targetting 829,000 children from Monday.

The last campaign was held in August exclusively in Rawalpindi as the poliovirus was found in the sewage of Leh Nullah near I.J. Principal Road. However, now the drive is being launched as a part of the National Immunisation Days.

As many as 750 special teams have been formed to vaccinate children.

District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Fayyaz Butt told Dawn that the health department had formed special teams to be deployed at transit areas, including bus terminals and railway stations, to administer polio drops to children coming from Fata and Khyber Pakhtunkhawa.

He said Rawalpindi had been polio free for eight years but due to the influx of people from the adjoining provinces there were chances of poliovirus in the city.

Most of the people coming from KP live in localities around Pirwadhai. The World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as the city government had declared 24 union councils in the city as highly risk areas. Besides, refusal cases were reported from these areas.

Last month, a WHO team visited the city and held a meeting with the local administration and suggested further improvement in the measures to make the region polio free.

Dr Butt said 2,181 mobile, 287 fixed and 287 transit teams had been designated for the campaign. Moreover, he said, 217 union council supervisors and 448 area incharges would be deployed.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2017