LAHORE: The Sehat Muhafiz polio eradication teams of Punjab’s Health Department will make house-to-house visits to vaccinate nearly 7 million children who are less than five years old in eight districts of Punjab during a campaign starting from tomorrow, Monday, December 18.
“The Punjab Emergency Operations Centre (PEOC) has decided to hold polio eradication campaigns in Lahore, DG Khan, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Rawalpindi, RY Khan, and Sheikhupura,” said Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Minister, Khawaja Imran Nazir.
Khawaja Imran reiterated that the five-day drive is part of the government efforts to provide medical protection to children.
Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary, Ali Jan Khan urged all parents to get their children vaccinated during the three-day campaign especially those who were guests from other provinces.
Punjab completed the year 2016 without a single polio case. But in 2017, a four-month child from Lodhran ended Punjab’s streak of 14 months without a case. So far, Pakistan has reported 7 polio cases including two each from Sindh and Balochistan, while one each from Punjab, KPK and Gilgit Baltistan.
In 2016, 20 polio cases were reported in Pakistan; 8 from Sindh, 8 from KPK, 2 from FATA and 2 from Balochistan. Punjab is focusing on Southern Punjab districts, as well as, the cities of Rawalpindi and Lahore because of persistent positive environmental samples.
PEOC Coordinator Dr Munir Ahmed said a recent polio case from Lodhran and persistent positive environmental samples were a cause for concern.
“Positive samples in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, DG Khan and now a polio case in Lodhran highlights the need to reach out to all children,” he said.