ISLAMABAD, Aug 20: An amount of Rs945 million has been spent on polio campaigns carried out during 2003 and 2004 and it will continue till the country is free of this dreadful disease , Federal Health Minister Mohammad Nasir Khan informed the National Assembly on Thursday.

According to the records placed before the National Assembly, a sum of Rs90 million is spent as operational cost on each national immunization round throughout the country including AJK, Fana and Fata.

Similarly, Rs45 million is spent on each sub-national immunization round for the target children of selected high risk districts.During 2003 four national and four sub-national rounds were carried out at a cost of Rs360 million and Rs180 million, respectively. Hence, a total sum of Rs540 million was borne by the health ministry, the minister said.

So far in 2004 four national immunization days have been observed at the cost of Rs360 million, whereas only one sub- national campaign was run at the cost of Rs45 million.

In response to a question asked by Dr Sahibzada Abdul Khair Mohammad Zubair, the health minister informed the house that in total during 2003 and 2004, the ministry had spent Rs945 million on giving polio drops.

To the second part of the question, he responded that on an average, 31 million children below the age of five were given polio drops during a national immunization round and 17 million during a sub-national immunization round. A total of 322 million doses have been given to the target children during 2003 and 2004 so far.

In addition to polio vaccine, Vitamin A drops have also been administered to children from six months to five years of age during these campaigns at intervals of six months.