LAHORE – Three day anti-polio campaign will start from Monday (today) during which polio vaccine drops will be administered to more than 16.33 million children up to the age of five years.
Secretary Health Punjab Arif Nadeem said that the department had constituted more than 38,300 teams for administering polio drops to the children at their doorsteps. In addition, teams had also been deputed at entry and exit points of the city, railway stations, bus stands and toll plazas for administering polio vaccine to the traveling children.
Talking to the newsmen here Sunday, Arif Nadeem said arrangements had also been made in all government hospitals, health centers, basic health units and government dispensaries for administering polio drops to the children. He informed the polio disease had been eliminated from most of the world but it still existed in few countries including Pakistan. He said only 15 cases of polio had been reported in Pakistan during the current year of which one was from Punjab.
He said although polio campaign was being launched in an organised and effective manner in Punjab yet children of some parts of the country remain deprived of administering drops due to some peculiar circumstances.
He said it was obligation of all concerned departments, parents, civil society, teachers, ulema and every citizen to take active part in this campaign.
so that this disease could be eliminated at the earliest. He said that besides officers of health department, representatives of WHO and UNICEF would also monitor the campaign. He appealed to the parents to ensure administering of polio drops to their children for saving them from permanent disability.
Dean Children Hospital Prof Tahir Masood said that polio vaccine was of international standard and the same was being used all over the country. He said that if the vaccine became discoloured, it could be ineffective but not harmful or fatal. He said all rumours in this regard were baseless.