DADU: Residents of remote villages in the mountainous Kachho region complain that no polio vaccination team has visited their abodes for at least five years to vaccinate children against the crippling disease and none showed up during the recently concluded drive that ran from May 15 to 18.

The health officials concerned reject the villagers’ complaint outright, while some prefer to remain silent or evade the question about the polio teams’ failure to cover certain areas for so long a period.

Many villagers in remote hamlets of the district — Karo Jabal, Piprasar, Gorakh Hill Station, Sodo, Bodo, Nai Gaaj, Salari, Gozo, Mado, Fareedabad, Keti Jatoi, Keti Khera, Keti Khushik, Jhaloo and Amniani — told Dawn during a visit to their areas on Monday that no polio team had set foot in their areas for at least five years, leaving their children highly vulnerable.

The health department recently launched an anti-polio drive in 52 union councils of the district that ran from May 15 to 18. The drive targeted administering drops to 365,817 children but there were widespread complaints that polio teams had failed to cover remote areas because of lack of effective monitoring by the district administration.

Khan Mohammad Rustamani in Karo Jabal area complained that there were 100 children below the age of five years in his area who had been waiting in vain for vaccination.

He said the villagers were ready to provide camels and donkeys to the polio teams so that they could travel in the hilly terrain and administer drops to children but none took the trouble to visit them.

He said in answer to a question that Dadu deputy commissioner had never showed up in their area and other remote villages to supervise the polio drive.

Jameel Marri of Piprasar village said that their abodes were easily accessible through roads. Besides, there was peace nowadays in their area, still, polio teams avoided to come to their doorsteps to administer drops. There were at least 50 children below five years who had not received the drops, he added.

He said that inhabitants of Sodo, Bodo and Nai Gaaj had also complained that they had asked health officials to send the polio teams to their area but in vain.

Sain Bux, a resident of Keti Jatoi, said the teams only focused on towns and sent ‘fabricated’ reports about vaccination in rural areas to their senior officers. All funds for fuel, travel and dearness allowance meant for carrying out the drive in villages were embezzled, he alleged.

Residents of Salari, Gozo, Mado, Fareed­abad, Keti Khera, Keti Khushik, Jhaloo and Amniani had a similar story to tell. They said there were over 5,000 children who had not been administered polio drops since no polio team had visited their areas lately.

Dr Hameed Soomro, focal person of the health department for polio, rejected the villagers’ complaints as baseless and said that polio drive had been successfully carried out in all nooks and corners of the district.

Dr Omer, in-charge of control room for polio, evaded the question about the areas not covered by the polio teams during the recent drive and said instead the drive had a target to reach 365,817 children to administer polio drops to them at their doorsteps in 52 union councils of the district.

There were 922 mobile teams, 88 fixed and 83 transit points to cover the targeted areas from May 15 to 18, he concluded.

Dr Karam Ali Shah, the World Health Organisation representative for polio, said that local people had been appointed to run polio drive in Kachho area and they had standing orders to cover the area throughout the month.

They were paying them Rs400 per person per day for the job, he said.

He said that there were six mobile teams to cover the Sindh-Balochistan border area. Three mobile teams were stationed in Fareedabad and three in Gozo union council and WHO was monitoring the polio vaccination drive in the district, he added.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017