Punjab will hold three-day polio campaign from March 14 to 17 as part of the National Immunisation Day.
The campaign will be held in 3,550 union councils in all 36 districts of the province and 18,343,426 children below five years of age will be administered polio drops.
This was stated by the Adviser to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique. He further said that DCOs and DPOs of all the districts have been asked to ensure necessary arrangement under the action plan for polio. The advisor further said that routine immunisation coverage in Punjab has increased significantly adding that Punjab has been successful in controlling polio due to the effective anti-polio campaign. He said that only two polio cases were reported in Punjab in the year 2015 out of 54 cases reported across the country. Khawaja Salman Raffique said that so far no polio case has been reported in Punjab in the current year.
Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Ali Jan Khan told the minister that the recent positive environmental sample in Faisalabad was a reminder that Punjab cannot afford complacency. The genetic sequence of recent environmental sample in Faisalabad was related to circulation in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. Health department in Faisalabad has been directed to ensure special vigilance of high risk mobile population in the campaign, the secretary added.