LAHORE: Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) Khawaja Imran Nazir said Friday that the provincial government wanted to administer polio vaccine to every child before the high-risk season starts in May next year.
Khawaja Imran Nazir said that reaching and vaccinating every child was absolutely critical in order to ensure that no more children suffered from the incurable disease.
He said that the five-day national polio eradication drive would start all over Punjab from Monday (November 20).
Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Ali Jan Khan said that the province would be implementing the campaign more aggressively in Rawalpindi, Lahore and South Punjab. “A polio case identified in Lodhran and consistent positive environmental samples collected in Rawalpindi, indicate that children are more vulnerable in these districts,” he said.
Punjab’s Emergency Operation Coordinator Dr Munir Ahmed said that although a polio case and consistent positive environment samples have been a cause of concern, but these developments have failed to dampen the spirits of polio eradication workers.
The provincial emergency operations centre had constituted over 44,000 teams, who would go door to door to vaccinate over 18.5 million children (below five years) all over the province. These included teams deployed at major bus stands, inter-provincial borders, airports, railway stations and hospitals.
Dr Munir said that parents may contact helpline 0800-99000 if polio teams did not turn up in their areas. Punjab had no polio case in 2016, but earlier in 2017 a child was paralysed by the virus in Lodhran, leaving the family devastated. Five polio cases have been reported in Pakistan this year from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh and Balochistan respectively.