A five-day special anti-polio drive in high risk areas of the district started on Monday to cover more than 162,000 children up to five years.
Under the drive, the polio teams would visit 13 union councils of Rawalpindi city, five union councils of Cantonment, six union councils of Tehsil Taxila and five union councils of rural areas which were declared high-risk areas, Executive District Officer (EDO- Health) Dr Zafar Iqbal Gondal said.
He said reason for launching the special drive is presence of people coming from North Waziristan Agency and other parts of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, especially after sewage samples collected from these areas indicated the presence of polio virus. He said staff deployed for the campaign has been issued special instructions and informed that no negligence in this regard would be tolerated.
The EDO advised parents to come forward and play their role in ensuring vaccination of their children to eliminate the disease from society.
