RAWALPINDI: The district administration on Wednesday directed the health authority to take additional measures to ensure all children in the district are vaccinated against polio, after Habib Colony residents last month refused vaccinations.

The polio vaccination campaign has been scheduled for Feb 12.

The provincial government has asked the district administration to resolve refusal cases in parts of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) ward 5, Habib Colony.

The administration was also concerned by environmental samples from Rawalpindi city that tested positive for the poliovirus. Samples of sewage are collected from Safdarabad and Dhoke Dalal Khan near Khayaban-i-Sir Syed every month. The sample from Dhoke Dalal tested positive for polio, while the Safdarabad sample was clear.

The directives were issued by Deputy Commissioner Talat Mehmood Gondal, who reviewed the arrangements for the vaccination drive in the district.

District Health Authority CEO Dr Sohail Ahmed, District Officer Health Dr Abdul Jabbar, WHO Coordinator Dr Uzma Hayat, Dr Amir Sheikh, Dr Ujala, Dr Sarwat, Murree Assistant Commissioner Arifullah Awan, Gujar Khan Assistant Commissioner Mehreen Fahim, Kahuta Assistant Commissioner Ansar Hayat, Cantt Assistant Commissioner Amber Gillani, representatives of allied departments and other officials also attended the meeting.

A senior district health authority official told Dawn alarm bells sounded in the health department after the Dhoke Dalal environmental sample came back positive, indicating that the poliovirus was active in the area and may affect children if they are not vaccinated immediately.

The official said Habib Colony residents last month refused to vaccinate their children, but agreed to do so in the upcoming drive after a jirga was convened.

“The meeting was apprised about the jirga conducted by the health authority with the help of notables and religious scholars of Habib Colony to convince people that vaccination did not affect people’s fertility,” he said.

He said the deputy commissioner informed Wednesday’s meeting that the World Health Organisation had deputed special teams in and around Pirwadhai to monitor the polio vaccination campaign.

“To solve the issue to vaccinate children coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir, there is a need to establish special counters at the points of entry into Rawalpindi district. The WHO has been asked to establish its permanent desk of vaccinators in this regard,” the official said.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Gondal directed the health department to improve its strategy to cope with the positive environmental sample from Dhoke Dalal and said special attention should be given to the vaccination of travellers in Mandi Mor and nearby areas.

The department was also told to devise a new plan with new standard operating procedures to cover updated targets in light of the readings of the current census report and the shortcomings and limitations of the previous year.

Special attention should be given to unavailable children and refusal cases, he added. Parents need to be made active participants for the campaign to be successful, he said, and also directed for a monitoring mechanism and the submission of a daily report.

Mr Gondal directed all allied departments to ensure that committed workers are available for the campaign.

Health CEO Dr Sohail Ahmed said the upcoming campaign, which will continue from Feb 12 to Feb 16, aims to vaccinate 840,000 children below the age of five. A total of 221 union council medical officers and 496 area in-charges have been appointed, and 2,333 mobile teams and 287 fixed and 119 transit points have been established.

He added that a total of 2,739 teams have been designated for the task, and the health officer would monitor the campaign’s progress. Security for polio workers has been arranged, and 1,362 out of 1,624 recorded refusal cases have been covered so far.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2018

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