LARKANA, Dec 22: A two-day special anti-polio campaign across Larkana district has been planned to cover children of up to five years of age left out in the Dec 17-19 drive, which had to be stopped one day before its scheduled closure following armed attacks on polio teams in Karachi, Peshawar and some other areas.

The Larkana district administration along with health officials engaged for the drive finalised a plan to kick off the special campaign on Monday.

District Health Officer Dr Khalilullah Shaikh hoped that the administering of polio drops to missed children would be completed by Dec 25, which would be a catch-up day.

For the ninth round of the originally planned anti-Polio campaign, the district health authorities had set a target of covering over 300,000 children across the district. However, 190,219 children could be covered.

Larkana Deputy Commissioner Asadullah Abro presided over a meeting on Saturday to review the arrangements for the special campaign. He said the government had enhanced the honorarium for anti-polio workers from Rs250 to Rs500 per day and granted a free medical facility for them.

Regarding safety and security of the teams, he said that two policemen would escort each of the teams while Rangers personnel would provide back-up support to ensure security in the localities to be visited by the polio workers.

All transition points would also be under police surveillance, the DC said, adding that special security measures would be taken in certain areas including Waris Dino Machi, Phull, Lashari and Garilo towns and Ghulam Bhutto village. He said SDMs and Mukhtiarkars would keep in close touch with the teams.

Meanwhile, a similar special campaign was launched in Shikarpur district on Saturday.

Walk, protest in Hyderabad Members of the Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA), Sindh, held a walk from the local press club to the GPO roundabout on awareness of vaccination and malnutrition, our staff correspondent in Hyderabad adds.

Carrying banners and placards, participants in the walk also protested against attacks on health workers and killing of some of them during the Dec 17-19 anti-polio drive in the country.

PPA Sindh president Prof Dr Salma Shaikh, vice president Dr Saleem Paryani, Prof Jalal Akbar and Dr Zulfiqar Ali Shaikh led the walk.