HYDERABAD, April 25: The government has formulated a health policy for children under which they will be administered anti- polio drops and other vaccines to control seven fatal diseases including hepatitis.

This was said by the EDO, health, Hyderabad, Dr Ashraf Bhurgari, while speaking at a news conference at the local press club on Thursday.

He said that the vaccines had been made available in all the government hospitals of Sindh.

He said that during the just concluded anti-polio drive, a target was fixed to administer anti-polio drops to 668,320 children and 97 per cent of the target was achieved and added that remaining children would be administered polio drops soon.

The EDO said that due to the joint efforts of the health department, the WHO and Unicef, Hyderabad district had been declared a polio-free area.

WORKSHOP: A “Focal Persons’ Workshop” under the Decentralization Support Programme was held here on Thursday.

The executive district officers (EDOs) and the taluka municipal officers (TMOs) of Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin and Dadu districts attended the workshop which was conducted by the capacity building specialist of the Asian Development Bank, Farukh Bashir Moriani.

The EDOs and the TMOs, who have been nominated as focal persons, are being trained in the methods for success of the decentralization process.

It was informed in the workshop that the Decentralization Support Programme was a 300-million-dollar initiative of the government and the ADB, aiming at improving service delivery, alleviating poverty and strengthening local government institutions.

The workshop was inaugurated by the DCO, Hyderabad, Mukhtar Ahmed Aziz, and the district Nazim, Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman, was the chief guest.