The Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Asif Ali Memon said that Union Council (UC) Secretaries and Patwaris/Tapedars have been included in teams constituted for effective and successful Polio eradication campaign making sure that each child be vaccinated and directed UC secretaries not to issue birth certificate until EPI card is presented by the parents.
Chairing a meeting of Health Officials, UC Secretaries and Patwaris at ex-Administrator Hall, Hyderabad today, he said that government is spending huge money for Polio eradication but Polio cases are still surfacing in different parts of the country which shows that somewhere negligence lies adding that Iran is successful in eradicating Polio in single round but we are not successful in spite of repeated anti-Polio campaigns. He said that keeping in mind the situation President of Pakistan issued directives for national emergency plan to address the issue adding that Health authorities are directed to make an effective strategy for eradication of Polio once for all from the country.
The Deputy Commissioner also directed for constitution of a committee at taluka level for effective monitoring of the process adding that District Polio Eradication Committee (DPEC) and UPEC are working at district and UC level, respectively. He urged upon the parents, religious scholars, public opinion leaders, civil society and other stakeholders to play their vital role for successful anti-Polio campaign. He said that in case of any negligence concerned officials would be taken to task and added that he himself would monitor the campaign at district level.
Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner was briefed about the arrangements for anti-Polio campaign to be started from 18 December 2011. During the briefing District Health Officer (DHO) Hyderabad Bakhsh Ali Pitafi informed that out of 165 cases in the country, there were 30 cases in Sindh while a single case was detected in Hyderabad. He said that around 275,000 children were to be administered Polio drops in the district adding that 11 to 12 thousand children could not be administered Polio drops due to different reasons. Talking about the UPEC function Pitafi said that preparation of contingency plan, team composition, training, social mobilisation, provision of security, arranging review meetings, awareness through local cable network, supply of ice are the main function of the committee.
He said that a senior Medical Officer at UC level is also monitoring the campaign. The Medical Officers are directed to submit progress report to DC and DHO on regular basis, he added. The WHO Area Co-ordinator Dr Hisham Ali, AC Latifabad, Rashid Mehmood, AC City Abid Saleem Qureshi and others attended the meeting.