Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered on Thursday a stern action against officials who had failed to show results in the national polio eradication campaign and asked provinces to double their efforts towards making Pakistan a polio-free country.
Chairing a meeting of Task Force on Polio Eradication, the PM took a strong exception to the performance of officials concerned, said an official statement issued here. “Do not transfer them, rather sack them, if they cannot deliver,” he told the members of the task force. The PM said all possible measures must be taken to eradicate the crippling disease from the country by 2012, under the National Emergency Plan. He also appointed Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali as focal person for Coordination and Monitoring of Polio Eradication in Pakistan. Gilani urged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor, all the chief ministers and the AJK prime minister to hold monthly review meetings on the situation and send reports to him.
Gilani had also assured the world leaders present at the Commonwealth Summit in Australia that his government would utilise all possible resources for polio eradication, said the statement.
The meeting was informed that according to the latest tally, 158 cases of polio had been detected in the country—29 in Sindh, 63 in Balochistan, 4 in Punjab and 14 in KP and the rest in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan.
The prime minister also told the task force to involve parliamentarians, religious leaders, local notables and NGOs with an outreach in the rural areas of the country in that regard.
Gilani directed authorities concerned to ensure better coordination between primary healthcare departments and lady health workers. He also proposed direct involvement of the media for greater awareness among the people against the disease.
He said the universities in the country should involved for third-party monitoring of the anti-polio campaign and appreciated the role of WHO, UNICEF, the government of Japan, Bill Gates Foundation for financial and technical assistance in that regard.
He said all provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan should be fully prepared for implementing campaign initiative called “National Immunisation Day”, commencing from 19 December to 22 December this year throughout the country.
He said that the focus of the discussion in the meeting in Australia was on Pakistan which had reported the highest number of polio cases in the world and hence it was a cause for concern for the global community.
He stressed the need to redouble the efforts as it was vital for country’s prestige and standing in the comity of nations. He said the National Emergency Action Plan was developed in consultation with all the provincial governments and with the active support of international partners.
Gilani recalled that the president had launched the national polio eradication plan at a ceremony held on January 24, which was also attended by Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, the ambassador for polio eradication. He expressed confidence that with one hundred percent implementation on the plan, the government would be able to stop the spread of the polio virus and meet its targets. Regarding reports of polio cases from FATA, he said a special civil-military coordination committees had been formed with chapters in all the agencies of FATA.
He said innovative solutions like Immunisation Plus had been successfully introduced in FATA with encouraging results. The Pakistan army field medical camps had also made special arrangements to administer polio vaccine to the children there, the PM said. “From 42 percent districts reporting 95 percent coverage, we have now progressed to 76 % districts reporting 95 percent coverage which is a marked improvement,” he observed. The meeting was attended, among others, by Inter-provincial Coordination Minister Mir Hazar Khan Bijrani, KP Governor Barrister Masood Kausar, Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah, KP CM Amir Haider Hoti, BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja, Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, provincial ministers, representatives of WHO, UNICEF, JICA, USAID, World Bank, Gates Foundation, and Rotary International.
