KARACHI, April 13: The three-day polio vaccination campaign in the province will begin in from April 15.

According to provincial health department officials, about 8,600 teams have been formed and 2000 vaccination centres have been established in the province for the campaign. The objective is to vaccinate eight million children.

Official sources said that there had been six cases of polio in the province. One case each was detected in Karachi, Larkana, Jacobabad and Nausheroferoze, and two were detected in Khairpur.

Parents and NGOs have been advised to get children vaccinated by mobile health units and the nearest polio centres. The health department aims to eliminate polio by 2004 from the province.

Dr Shamsunisa Ansari, Director Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI-Sindh), told APP that the disease could efficiently be tackled if every child up to five years of age received no less than 11 to 12 doses of vaccine.

“People must see to see no under-five child is left out, additional dose casts no side-effect or negative repercussion on the health of children,” she said.

General physicians have particularly stressed that all children up to the age of five must be administered OPV during the forthcoming National Immunization Days (NIDs) being observed from April 15 to April 17. This, however, does not in any way reduce the significance of routine immunization.

General physicians coming across cases with possible symptoms of polio have been specially advised to contact the EPI-Sindh personnel at 111506070.

The last polio case, prior to the one registered in March this year in Karachi, was reported nine months back in June, 2002. This brought the total number of confirmed cases of polio in the city to three the whole year, against the 17 in the preceding year of 2001.