The Health Department has set up special centres for polio vaccination and certification at 135 points across the province.
These centres have been established at district headquarters (DHQ) hospitals, offices of the executive district officer (EDOs), public hospitals and airports.
Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Director Dr Munir Ahmad told The Express Tribune that the centres would vaccinate and issue certification in this regard for free.
He said those who needed to obtain the certificates could go to a government-run hospital in their respective area and get vaccinated there.
He said although no country had yet asked Pakistan to produce polio vaccination certification, and World Health Organization (WHO) had also granted a period of 15 days to Pakistan, the centres had been established to facilitate people and to not cause hindrances in travel.
“We are doing our best for elimination of polio. Steps have been taken to administer polio drops to all children entering the Punjab at various entry points of the province. Three anti-polio campaigns are planned for the affected areas this month,” he added.
Chief Secretary Naveed Akram Cheema had said in a meeting in April that no polio cases had been in the province in 2014.
Advisor to Chief Minister on Health Salman Rafique said the Health Department had set up polio vaccination and certification centres at all airports, government hospitals and offices of Health EDOs in the province.
Rafique further said the chief minister had taken special interest in the polio campaign and officials had been instructed to ensure the province remained polio-free.
He said more integrated efforts were needed to maintain the status quo.
Rafique said the aim of establishing polio vaccination and certification centres at airports was to save passengers from facing difficulties in foreign travel. He appealed to people to obtain the certificate from a hospital or an EDO’s office a month before travelling in order to avoid inconvenience at the airports.
To prevent the possible spread of the polio virus from Pakistan to other countries, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had decided last week to impose travel restrictions on the country. The decision was made on the recommendation of the emergency committee of WHO, which had met on April 28 and suggested imposing travel restriction on Pakistan.
The WHO had also recommended similar restrictions on Syria and Cameroon—two countries where the disease was previously said to have been eradicated but had recently been known to have been exporting the disease.
Pakistan is one of only three countries where the crippling virus is endemic.
The other two countries are Nigeria and Afghanistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 12th, 2014.