MULTAN / DERA GHAZI KHAN: A polio vaccination drive will start in Dera Ghazi Khan on Monday (today).
The two-day drive will conclude on March 26.
The campaign will be monitored by Deputy Health Officer Muhammad Saeed and EPI coordinator Shafiqur Rehman.
Health Executive District Officer Munawar Abbas told The Express Tribune the campaign would target rural and tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan.
He said 1,076 mobile health units, 69 stationed health units and 39 transit units had been constituted to ensure comprehensive coverage.
He said the drive planned to vaccinate 525,000 children.
He said 2,500 people, including lady health workers, paramedical staff, teachers and 300 volunteers, would administer the vaccines.
He said transit units would visit the tribal belts including Sakhi Sarwar, Jarwaar, Tareman, Jhangi, Qutba, Buwaata and Basti Zor.
He said the 26 police teams would ensure safety of the vaccination teams.
From 2001 to 2011, 15 polio cases emerged from Dera Ghazi Khan. Since 2011, the district was declared polio-free. Dera Ghazi Khan Commissioner Sohail Shehzad said the drive would also check nine epidemic diseases with the support of the government across Dera Ghazi Khan division. Shehzad said polio teams had faced resistance some families of the tribal areas. He said the government launched a religious orientation in rural and tribal areas to convince the parents to let their children get immunised against polio.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 24th, 2014.