RAWALPINDI: Following detection of polio virus in the sewage samples of Rawalpindi, an emergency week-long anti-polio drive will be launched in the district from Monday (July 1).

Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema directed the District Health Authority (DHA) to complete arrangements for a successful campaign in the district t6o immunise over 900,000 children less than five years of age.

He instructed it to focus on high-risk union councils frequently visited by those from the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Special teams are to be deputed at the entry and exit points, bus stations and the railway station.

DHA Chief Executive Officer Dr Ijaz Ahmed confirmed detection of the virus in an environmental sample collected from Safdarabad. This was the first positive sample from Rawalpindi and the isolated virus was genetically linked to the virus cluster circulating in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan.

He said a plan had been devised to immunise the children with particular focus on high-risk union councils, adding that no polio case was reported in Rawalpindi in the past decade. Sewage sample taken from nullahs was positive and since the sewage of Islamabad is also discharged into Rawalpindi, a campaign will also be launched in the capital to curb the spread, the DHA official said.

Meanwhile, Punjab Emergency Operations Centre has called for training needs assessment of district health officials, as the province plans to roll out a special polio campaign in six districts from Monday.

Punjab Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Khizer Afzaal said keeping in view the poliovirus circulation, a special polio eradication campaign would be launched in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lodhran, Bahawalpur and Muzaffargarh.

Expressing concern about the sub-optimal performance of the deputy district health officers (DDHOs), he said a complete report of their performance in polio campaigns would be submitted to the chief secretary.

“If DDHOs’ performance is below par, the results in polio campaigns will also be sub-optimal; they need to check micro plans and meet with their field teams,” Mr Afzaal said.

He called upon districts to use the oral polio vaccine with utmost care, minimising wastage while ensuring that children were not under-immunised.

He directed the districts lagging in zero-dose children data entry to update records promptly. More than 32,000 polio workers will participate in the campaign starting from Monday and over five million children will be vaccinated in the six districts of Punjab.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2024