HYDERABAD - A three-day long anti-polio campaign will begin in the district from February 18, said District Health Officer Dr Buksh Ali Pitafi.
Speaking at a press conference, he said that the campaign will continue for three days while the fourth day (February 21) would be a ‘catch-up’ day.
He urged parents and guardians of the children younger than five years to cooperate with the team administering the polio vaccine.
Dr Pitafi also appealed to religious leaders and seminary managements to help the polio staff.
He said that it had been seen in previous campaigns that vaccinators had not been allowed in a few localities and some of them were also harassed.
Sharing targets of the upcoming anti-polio drive, Dr Pitafi said that 298,947 children would be vaccinated against polio and 720 mobile teams had been set up for the purpose. Moreover, he said, 90 fixed centres and 45 transit points had also been set up. He said that the campaign would be monitored by officers in 57 union councils, seven taluka supervisors and 172 area in-charges.
Besides, he said, the WHO and Unicef representatives, Health Department officials and deputy commissioner would also supervise the campaign.
Speaking about the security of polio staff, focal person for Health Services office, Dr Mohammad Ashraf Memon said that as such there was no security issue in Hyderabad. However, he said, if vaccinators faced any threats they would be provided security and help would also be sough from police and rangers.
He said that the presence of the polio virus in Hyderabad district had been confirmed by testing seven samples taken from sewage lines at the Tulsidas pumping station Hyderabad, from July 2012 to Jan 2013.
Dr Memon said that he had also sent another sample, taken this month, to the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, and the result would come back after a month.
According to an officer of the National-Stop Transmission of Polio, Dr Nadeem Shah, three cities, Hyderabad, Karachi and Peshawar, were considered sensitive since the virus had been detected in their sewerage lines.
He said that in 2012, a total of four cases had been reported from Sindh province and out of them only one was from Hyderabad.
He said the case was reported from Sehrish nagar area in union council 1, Qasimabad taluka. So far in 2013, he said, two polio cases had been reported from all over the country, one from Karachi and the other from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.