KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah launched week-long anti-polio campaign from March 13-19 in 16 high-risk districts of province by administering drops to children in ceremony organised at CM House here by Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for Polio Eradication.

Minister Health Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Soomro, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Commissioner Karachi Iqbal Memon, Secretary Health Zulfiqar Shah, Aziz Memon, Coordinator EOCPE Fayaz Abbasi and others.

CM said that districts include Karachi division, Larkana Division (all five districts), Sukkur division (Sukkur and Ghotki) and Hyderabad division (Hyderabad full and Jamshoro Partial) with an aim to vaccinate more than 5.6 million children of under 5 years of age. Minister for health told CM that more than 40 thousand polio workers would be deployed and around 2,270 security personnel would be deployed in Karachi. CM said that Pakistan was one of two polio-endemic countries in world along with Afghanistan. He said that it was great achievement for Sindh that no polio cases had been reported over last 33 months.

“If we continue with same momentum, we will further see significant results, but we must not get complacent and continue hard work,” Murad said. CM said that Pakistan Pediatric Association, Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, medical experts across world as well as prominent religious scholars in Pakistan and across region endorsed oral anti-polio vaccine as safest and most effective for not only preventing polio but also eradicating environment.

The chief minister said that polio had no cure but could be easily prevented by administering two polio drops during every campaign. He urged parents to cooperate with polio teams reaching their doorsteps for vaccination and help save Pakistan’s future by eradicating polio. Dr Azra said that efforts of EOC anti-polio programme resulted in more than 60 percent reduction in refusals and missed children, but we must bring them down further, especially in Karachi.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 14 2023

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