Capital Development Authority (CDA) Chairman Engineer Farkhand Iqbal on Friday announced strengthening of Directorate of Health Services, involving more human resource to administer polio drops at every doorstep during the campaigns. He was addressing a meeting held to review the situation of polio control in federal capital which was co-chaired by Advisor to Prime Minister on polio, Shehnaz Wazir Ali and focal person of Polio Campaign Dr. Azra Pacheho.
The meeting was arranged to review the Polio campaign held in last week of April and prepare strategies to make upcoming polio campaign a success which is scheduled to be held in first week of June.
Director of Health Services Directorate, Dr Hasan Orooj apprised the participants that estimated 996 polio workers are required to visit door to door and administer Polio drops during every campaign while around 500 workers of health directorate are deputed in every campaign, however, additional workers are required to do the job amicably.
The Federal Capital is Polio free since 2003, however the Polio epidemic in the country poses threat to all the districts so that all should be fully prepared and geared up to control polio cases and other epidemics, especially the capital city which has a peculiar situation of hosting Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), seasonal migrants and having urban slums along with Katchi Abadis in the rural set up. Although, CDA operates in the urban developed sectors but the health services are being provided beyond urban developed sectors to the rural areas such as; Ternol, Golra Sharif, Mehra Abadia, Saria Kharboza, Mehle Faroqia etc which are major high risk zones for epidemics.
He said the federal capital is divided in 15 zones and 84 sectors and all our zonal & sector supervisors and team members have produced remarkable results for providing services during the campaigns. Dr Orooj on the occasion presented in detail strategies adopted in the last polio campaign held from April 23-25. All National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) for Polio are strictly adhered during the polio campaign and this adherence to NEAP include strict surveillance and monitoring, validation of micro plans, quality trainings and zero tolerance policy towards inefficiency. Appreciating the efforts of CDA for polio campaign, Dr Azra and Shahnaz Wazir Ali pointed out that there is room for improvement and requested the Chairman to further strengthen the health directorate for achieving better results.
They urged CDA Chief to personally chair the polio meetings and explore the possibilities to involve other institutions like Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), volunteers of Red Crescent, Boy Scouts and School of Nursing as well as from different formations of CDA for provision of human resource during the campaigns.
On the occasion, Member Administration assured to provide 280 additional workers to health directorate for administering polio drops during the campaign and also pledged to provide logistic support for the purpose. The participants on the occasion appreciated the efforts of Dr Orooj for strict monitoring and preparedness before and during the polio campaign.
The representatives of World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, CDA member Administration and member planning were also present on the occasion.
