HYDERABAD, Nov 3: The executive district officer (EDO) health, Hyderabad, Dr Qadir Bux Memon, has appealed to parents to get their children up to five years of age immunized against polio during the anti-polio campaign to be conducted in the district from Tuesday to Thursday.

Speaking at a news conference at Hyderabad press club here on Saturday, he said that the target to administer polio vaccine to the children under five years of age in Hyderabad district during the ensuing campaign was set at 666,668 for which 1,409 mobile teams had been constituted and 221 fixed sites had been selected.

Flanked by the WHO consultants, Dr Memon said that the entry and exit points of the district will also be covered by the fixed teams in these areas.

Expressing alarm over the spread of polio, he said that seven such cases had been confirmed in the district while 22 polio cases had been reported in Sindh.

He said that last year the number of reported cases in the province was 65 but due to the campaign remarkable deduction had been witnessed.

The EDO said that despite the deployment of a large number of teams, many children were missed as the children were absent from homes during visits of the vaccination teams and some parents were reluctant to administer polio vaccine to their children.

He said that yet another reason was the seasonal shifting of people from one place to other for harvesting crops or other reasons.

He said that this time Nazims were also being involved in the campaign and they will issue certificates that no child had been left unvaccinated in their areas.

Dr Memon pointed out that for our country, four doses of the vaccine were not enough because of climatic and unhygienic conditions and nutritional condition of children.

He also appealed to Pesh Imams of mosques to advise the worshippers to cooperate with the Health Department in getting their children immunized against polio and other diseases.

Speaking on the occasion WHO consultant Dr Domicima, who is from Brazil, said that the Brazilian media had played vital role in the eradication of polio from the country and urged the print media of Pakistan to help launch a social mobilization campaign against polio.

She said that India had made great progress in the immunization and added that polio affliction in that country had come down from more than 1,000 to only 122.

She disclosed that not a single case of polio had been reported in Bangladesh.

SAZDA: Sazda staff union (CBA) has expressed grave concern over the winding up of Sazda, handing it over to district governments and transfer of Sazda employees to other departments.