MIRPUR (AJK): The five-days integrated anti-polio drive was started in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Monday, during which over 7.11 lakh children under five years of age will be administered polio vaccine across the State.
Official sources told reporter here that only in AJK’s metropolis Muzaffarabad, about 1.30 lakh children up to five years of age are set to be administered anti-polio vaccines and vitamin ‘A’ drops during the drive, to be continued till March 04 without any pause.
At least 500 mobile teams of para medical staff have been constituted to visit door to door to administer the anti polio vaccine during the campaign in the AJK capital where 80 fixed centers have also been set up by the State Polio Eradication Committee of the AJK’s State Health Services Department.
Fixed centers have been set up at the state-run hospitals, Basic Health Units, Rural Health Centers as well as various other spots to vaccinate the children with the anti-polio drops.
A total of 38 zones have been demarcated for conducting door to door drive under the supervision of 130 area in charges, the sources said.
The state Health Department’s Polio Eradication Committee has made adequate arrangement to execute the campaign in a befitting manner. Parents have been advised to fully cooperate with the mobile teams by getting their children administered with polio-vaccine by the mobile paramedical staff.
The staff involved in the drive include mobile teams comprising over 5000 workers for visiting door to door to immunize the children under 5 years of age during the campaign throughout Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
It may be added that the state health authorities claimed that there had been no case of polio disease to any child detected in any part of Azad Jammu and Kashmir during last 21 years.