LAHORE: A five-day anti-polio campaign will begin in all districts of Punjab from January 16. The health authorities have set a target of vaccinating more than 22 million children up to the age of five years besides deploying 84,500 mobile teams and two lakh polio workers for the drive which will continue till January 20. Provincial Health Minister Dr Akhtar Malik and Punjab Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal presided over a meeting of the Provincial Taskforce on Polio Eradication at the Civil Secretariat on Tuesday.
Secretary Primary Health Dr Irshad Ahmed, representatives of international organizations working for polio eradication and relevant officers attended the meeting while all the divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners participated through video link.
Dr Akhtar Malik directed the deputy commissioners to personally supervise the campaign in the districts. He said that 100 percent coverage must be ensured in high-risk districts, including Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad.
Chief Secretary Abdullah Khan Sumbal directed the deputy commissioners that the success rate
in Lot Quality Assessment Survey (LQAS) should not be less than 95 percent.
The chief secretary also sought a report from the deputy commissioners of Multan, DG Khan and Rajanpur regarding the shortcomings in the November campaign. He said that everyone needed to work with national spirit to uproot the polio.