PESHAWAR, Nov 24: Three-day polio vaccination campaign has been launched in militancy-hit Bajaur Agency after a gap of four months.

In all a total of around 0.1 million children below the age of five will be administered polio vaccines, said Dr Zakir Hussain, an official of the health department in Bajaur Agency, while talking to APP.

He said that polio vaccine would be administered to children in areas where the government’s writ had been established.The areas where the health department official cannot reach due to law and order situation are Tehsil Nowagai, Tehsil Mamond and Tehsil Chamarkand.

Dr Zakir Hussain said that polio vaccine could not be administered in the agency during the last four months. He added that this year at least three polio cases had so far been detected in Bajaur Agency. – APP

Our Peshawar Bureau adds: Three-day anti-polio campaign began in the province and the tribal areas on Monday.

A press release said that 15,909 teams would vaccinate 5.5 million children below five years of age. Children of the same age will also get vitamin ‘A’ intake during the drive. Transit teams have been deployed at bus stands, railway stations, airports and tool plazas to provide vaccines to the travelling children.

The provincial government after detection of 41 polio cases in the province had strictly directed district health management teams and polio staff to provide anti-polio vaccine to each and every child of the target age. The department had also warned that disciplinary action would be taken against the health workers showing laxity in the drive.

It is pertinent to note that out of 41 polio cases, 17 had been reported only in Peshawar district. Among these 17 cases 12 involve Afghan children. In order to run an effective drive in the district, 1,778 teams had been assigned the task of administering polio drops to 780,000 target population of under five years of age.

In a bid to vaccinate all the target children, teams had been deployed at bus stands, railway station, Peshawar airport, motorway and all busy markets of the city. According to health experts, deteriorated law and order situation, misconceptions about polio drops, refusals and lack of awareness were causes of the continuation and spread of polio virus.

Our Correspondent from Miramshah adds: Anti-polio drive was launched in the Miramshah tribal region with the support of 419 mobile, 11 transit and 19 fixed teams.

During the three-day campaign, 156,000 children will be administered oral polio vaccine, said Agency Surgeon Dr Jehan Mir. He said that teams had been sent to remote areas near the Pakistan-Afghan border to vaccinate children crossing the border.

Our Correspondent from Karak adds: As many as 103,000 children of five years of age and below would be administered polio vaccine in Karak district during the three-day campaign which started here on Monday.

Executive District Officer (health) Dr Haleem Khattak, while talking to this scribe by phone said that 300 teams including 257 mobile teams, 12 transit teams and 31 fixed teams had been formed to administer polio vaccines to the children. He said that 54 area supervisors and one district support officer had been deputed to make the campaign a success.

EDO health and coordinator of Extended Programme for Immunisation (EPI) would also make overall supervision in the entire district.

Dr Haleem informed that although district Karak was polio-free, but despite that they had involved all the health staff including lady health visitors (LHVs) to participate in the polio campaign and incase of refusal from the polio duty strict action would be taken against the staffers.

He said that he was on tour at the moment to check the polio teams and had provided a system of check and balance over the staff to assure perfect administration of polio drops to children to fight the war against the fatal disease.

The EDO revealed that in some parts of the district like Chanda Khurram, Kundi and some parts of Gurguri, people had refused to get their children administered with polio drops as they were considering it as something un-Islamic.

He said that he got the issue settled through the involvement of the local ulema, who persuaded the people to get their children administered with polio drops.