HYDERABAD, March 4: A plan to vaccinate 297,020 children under five years of age during a three-day anti-polio campaign in the district was finalized at a meeting held here on Friday.

The campaign will be launched on March 7.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil, who presided over the meeting held at his secretariat, told the participants that the district had been divided into 21 zones where 713 teams – 604 mobile teams, 84 fixed teams and 25 transit teams – would administer polio drops to children.

He said separate strategies had been prepared for urban, rural and hilly and backward areas according to their socio-geo conditions.

About the increasing trend of refusal cases, the nazim said it was alarming and dangerous for other children who were taking anti-polio drops regularly.

He directed the DCO and the EDO, health, to form a committee of union council and taluka nazims, TPOs and opinion leaders of talukas concerned to convince people refusing polio drops to their children.

Mr Jamil asked the health management and NGOs to arrange seminars and other awareness programmes about adopting preventive measures against polio.

He directed officers concerned to evolve an effective monitoring system to check working of anti-polio teams so that all areas could be covered.

He praised the WHO and other organizations for their role in the anti-polio campaign.

The nazim asked the health EDO to prepare a plan to register all newborn babies so that they were vaccinated against fatal diseases. The EDO was also directed to prepare a strategy to provide training to midwives and ensure their registration with taluka hospitals concerned to ensure mother and child care in rural areas during birth.

In the Tando Allahyar district, DCO Dr Farooq Leghari presided over a meeting at the nazim’s secretariat about polio eradication.

Health EDO Dr Shafqat Memon said due to efforts of the district management, refusal cases had decreased from 77 to 24 cases in the district.

The district focal person for the polio campaign, Dr Pir Dino Arbab, said 258 mobile teams had been formed to vaccinate 94,152 children in Tando Allahyar.