Provincial government vows to eradicate polio

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Kazim Niaz, Minister for Finance & Health Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Minister for Information Technology Kamran Bangash inaugurated Feb round of anti-polio drive here on Friday in separate activities, reiterating strong will of the government for polio eradication and wiping out the menace that continues to hit children of the region.

Speaking on the occasion, Taimur Saleem Jhagra said polio eradication is top priority of the government and urged parliamentarians to play active role in refusal convergence in their respective constituencies.

Taimur Saleem Jhagra said that civil society specially media has an important role in shaping public opinion and urged media to sensitize people about significance of immunization”, he added.

He said that it was unfortunate that Pakistan is among the last two endemic countries where polio virus is paralyzing children whereas the world has eradicated the disease.

Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Dr Kazim Niaz, in a separate activity here at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar launched February round of National Immunization Drive (NID) against polio by administering vaccine to the children.

On the occasion, Dr Kazim said that provincial government was taking every possible measure including strict security arrangements to ensure safety of the frontline workers and smooth campaign in the province.

“Society as a whole and specially the doctors have a key role in sensitization of people about importance of vaccination and unless owned by the community the target of polio eradication will not be achieved”, he maintained.

Coordinator EOC Abdul Basit, while sharing his thoughts on the moment, said that the three day anti-polio drive will be kicked off from Monday (Feb 17) in all districts of the province including camps set up for Afghan Refugees and Temporary Displaced Persons (TDPs).

According to EOC data more than 6.752 million children under five years of age will be vaccinated in the national drive against polio for which 23309 teams of trained health workers have been constituted out of which 20159 are mobile teams, 1849 fixed, 1104 transit and 196 roaming teams.

More than 30000 law enforcing personnel have been deployed in the campaign to ensure safety and security of teams.