LAHORE: Head of the polio programme in Punjab and Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Khizer Afzaal has called upon the district health authorities (DHAs) to take ownership of the anti-polio efforts, saying a “laid back approach” won’t be tolerated.

The coordinator was presiding over a meeting to review the anti-polio drive held in February 2024, here on Thursday, attended by all health chief executive officers (CEOs) of 36 districts, as well as partners’ staff, via video link.

During the meeting, Mr Afzaal expressed concerns over “low quality micro plans”, as well as “unplanned” training and orientation sessions arranged for polio teams.

Raising concern about complacency shown by the DHAs, he said that the micro plans needed to be updated regularly so that every child could be reached during the anti-polio campaigns, urging the CEOs to take personal interest in the campaign preparations.

Punjab programme head concerned at data quality

“Attention needs to be paid to plan the training sessions to ensure that no untrained team member is deployed during the campaign,” he underlined.

The officers who are not not serious about the polio eradication should think about some other career, he said, adding that the deputy commissioners (DCs) concerned need to remain informed about the performance of the DHAs in polio campaigns.

During the meeting, the EOC coordinator was briefed on field validation of polio campaign data. However, he showed his displeasure over the quality of the data on coverage of children.

He laid emphasis on data quality and directed health officials to take to the task the workers showing laxity in this regard.

“While world watches us closely and waits for polio eradication [in Pakistan], the virus continues to be detected in major cities. Instead of cutting a sorry figure, we need to improve our performance. Laid back approach will not be tolerated”, he insisted.

The coordinator also reviewed data on ‘zero doze’ children identified in the polio campaigns and directed the districts to enter the relevant statistics in the system within two days.

During the review, the EOC coordinator was also briefed on vaccine use, as well as wastage rate. He called upon the district administrations to use polio vaccine judiciously by avoiding under usage and wastage.

He informed the participants that quality assurance indicators of the polio campaigns had been further tightened.

“There will be no intermediate results. It will be either green or red. No yellow areas,” he said.

The EOC head said Punjab was planning a campaign to respond to the poliovirus detection in the environmental samples of some cities.

“The campaign’s scope is being finalised, as the districts [where the virus was detected] include Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Okara, Kasur, and some union councils of Rahim Yar Khan, as well as Rajanpur”, he said, adding that the Sub-National Immunisation Drives (SNIDs) will be launched in these districts in April.

Mr Afzaal urged the districts to keenly monitor the transit points for children’s vaccination as the virus also moved with the families in transit.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2024