QUETTA: The provincial coordinator of the emergency operation centre (EOC), Syed Faisal Ahmed, on Friday announced that the first polio eradication campaign of 2018 would be carried out in Quetta, Pishin, Qila Abdullah and other cities of Balochistan for three days, starting from Jan 15 (Monday).

In the previous year, a total of eight polio cases were reported in Pakistan of which three were from Chaman, Gulistan and Zhob of Balochistan.

“The three-day anti-polio drive will kick-off on Monday with keen monitoring on Quetta, Pishin and Qila Abdullah following some refusal cases during previous campaigns in these districts,” said Mr Ahmed while addressing a press conference at the EOC’s office.

Qila Abdullah and Pishin, he added, were still polio high-risk districts as some parents there were not agree to get their children vaccinated. “More than 2.4 million children would be administrated with anti-polio drops in Balochistan, and we have directed all authorities to pay more attention to Pak-Afghan bordering areas as thousands of people cross the border on a daily basis,” he said.

A total of 9,764 teams were taking part in the campaign, constituting of 8,375 mobile teams, 890 fixed sites and 499 transit points.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2018