The second phase of the three-day anti-polio vaccination drive began in the Punjab on Monday, in which eight million children under five years of age will be administered the drops against the paralysing disease.
According to Health Department sources, the drive will continue till January 21 in 18 districts of the province including Kasur, Sheikhupura, Nankana Sahib, Okara, Toba Tek Singh, Multan, Lodhran, Vehari, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar and Hafizabad.
The Health department has constituted 19,000 teams to administer the anti-polio drops to the target-age kids, and deputed more than 110 doctors to supervise the vaccination drive. Officials of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Islamabad and Lahore, and Health department officials are also monitoring the drive.
Earlier, Punjab Health department in the first phase of the anti-polio campaign from January 12 to 14 administered drops to 7.3 million children under five years of age in Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Faisalabad, Jhang, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Pakpattan, Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot and Narowal districts.
At present, the number of polio affected children is 31 in the Punjab, while no polio case was reported in the province back in 2006. Commenting on the cause, Health department sources said the virus reached the Punjab region from Sindh, NWFP and Helmand in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the department has set up a polio control cell at the Expanded Programme for Immunisation (EPI) Punjab office on Cooper Road. Any queries or complaints about the polio drive can be lodged with phone numbers 9204397 and 9201143. Health sources appealed to parents of target-age kids to co-operate with the mobile teams and ensure that their wards are administered the anti-polio drops.