RAWALPINDI: The Local Government Department has been told to provide the District Health Authority with a list of employees who will be trained for the next polio vaccination campaign scheduled to start on Jan 21.

The directions were made by Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner (DC) Omer Jahangir during a meeting in his office, held to review plans for the anti-polio campaign after a sewerage sample from the city and cantonment areas tested positive for the polio virus.

The meeting was also attended by District Health Authority Chief Executive Officer Dr Khalid Mehmood and other senior officials of the district administration.

The District Health Authority sought the district administration’s help in overcoming the shortage of staff and making new plans to make the campaign successful.

Cases will be registered against people who refuse to vaccinate their children, DC says

The DC directed the departments of education, local government and other government departments to provide a list of employees whose services will be utilised to vaccinate children.

The DC stressed on the need for joint efforts to make the district polio free and said the shortage of staff will be addressed soon and their training will be started in two days.

“The health authority should appoint permanent staff in the union councils (UC) which have been declared high risk by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and should not change the in-charges of the area as it will be difficult for new staff to get to know the area,” he said.

DC Jahangir said cases should be registered against people who do not allow their children to be vaccinated during the last three drives.

Dr Mehmood told the meeting that the number of high risk UC’s have been reduced from 11 to four due to efforts of the district health authority.

“WHO teams conducts tests after each anti-polio drive and it declares UC’s high risk afterwards,” he said.

He told the meeting that the number of refusals has also decreased in high risk UCs during the last three drives and that more than 90pc of children were vaccinated against polio.

“During the December campaign, 3,228 children were missed and 405 people refused to vaccinate their children,” he said.

However, he said, the health authority will vaccinate the children who were missed during the last campaign.

“A plan has been made for dealing with refusal cases,” he said, and that influential people and prayer leaders have been contacted to convince people who are refusing to vaccinate their children. Police cases will be registered against these people as a last resort, he said.

Dr Mehmood said children coming from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa should be vaccinated as well and feared that the environmental sample from Rawalpindi may test positive for the polio virus again.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2019