DERA GHAZI KHAN, Jan 13: The Dera Ghazi Khan polio vaccination programme is in jeopardy due to the irresponsible behaviour of the Health administration and managers of the vaccination programme.

D.G Khan Health EDO Qasim Qureshi (retired) had deputed two vaccinators and a supervisor to perform their duties other than polio vaccination in the area. The decision was taken presumably after the ineffective polio eradication campaign which had been initiated way back in early 1994. Since then at least 39 polio campaigns have been conducted.

Interestingly, a polio case had been reported from the native town of the EDO when he was in charge of the polio vaccination programme in the district.

Moreover, Bilqees Bibi, the daughter of Nawab Khan Buzdar, had been reported to have been maliciously vaccinated after she was attacked by wild polio virus. The case was sent to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, which confirmed that the girl was vaccinated after the polio attack just to hide the criminal negligence of local programme managers from their high-ups.

When a WHO team led by Dr Debra visited the tribal area to take stock of the situation, the people told the team that the area had never been vaccinated since the programme started in 1994.

The tribal area is inhabited by more than 150,000 people and, according to a survey, some 0.4 million children need vaccination in the entire D.G Khan district.

Although the incharge and surveillance officer in south Punjab, Dr Khalid, tried to protect the Health officials, yet he admitted that the tribal area had been poorly managed.

The disappointing results of the entire campaign is being tactfully fixed against the helpless and inefficient vaccinators and the field staff. Though the entire structure of the campaign is responsible for this mess, the managers including the EDO, the DHO, the DCO and the surveillance officer of WHO are the main people to blame.

A different strategy is required to be adopted to cope with the situation especially in tribal areas where accessibility is quite difficult as compared to the settled areas.