A three-day anti-polio campaign has been formally kicked off in Punjab on Monday. During this campaign, as many as 38,398 mobile teams will administer polio drops alongwith drops of Vitamin-A to 17.65 million children.
The Punjab government has taken strenuous steps to ensure elimination of polio virus and, on the directive of Chief Minister Punjab; DCOs of all districts have been asked to make strict vigilance of the polio campaign, while strict legal action would be taken against official showing negligence, a spokesman of health department said.
In Punjab, over 4 million children are suffering from Vitamin-A deficiency, resultantly resistance power and eye sight of children have negatively impacted. Unfortunately, Pakistan is among those only three countries of the world, where polio disease is prevalent. There has been marked improvement in polio coverage in Punjab, due to which, only three polio cases have surfaced, while previous year these cases were nine. It may be noted that in 2011, as many as 198 polio cases were reported throughout the country which has reduced up to 43 cases during current year.