ISLAMABAD - Five additional polio vaccine certification centres have been established by the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) to facilitate the international travellers to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) travel recommendation.
The centres have been established on the instruction of CADD Secretary Faridullah Khan. The centres have been equipped with the services needed for polio vaccination and certification to the intending international travellers.
Two centres are established at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), one at Federal Government Polyclinic Hospital, one at Mother and Child Health Center, G-6/1-4 Aabpra, and one at National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM).
According to the spokesperson for CADD Rafique Tahir, the centres will remain open from 8am to 4 pm, Monday to Saturday. He added that sufficient vaccine and other related facilities have been provided to all the centers and people from all around Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) can approach any center for the vaccine certification.
And in case of any complaint they can approach Executive Director Polyclinic, Administrator Pims, Director Nirm and CADD spokesperson. Two of the centers have already functioning and from Saturday (today) all five center will be functional fully wherein vaccination certificate will be issued free of charge, he added.
The travel restrictions imposed by the WHO on May 5 to curb the poliovirus exportation on three countries including Pakistan will come into effect from June 1, 2014 and all travelers from Pakistan will be required to produce a valid vaccination certificate.
In a joint statement by the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination and the WHO on the IHR temporary recommendations relating to international travel to and from Pakistan it has been announced that a template for the required vaccination certificate has been prepared and until printing of the template is completed the certificate can be issued on plain paper with the required stamps from health officials.