Hyderabad: Deputy Commissioner Matiari, Muhammad Danish Zakir on Monday said that all concerned departments must work in close coordination and adopt an effective strategy to completely eradicate polio, ensuring that no child in the district would be deprived of the polio booster dose during the upcoming campaign.
He directed the authorities to focus on comprehensive micro-planning, effective training of field teams, strict monitoring, public awareness and special attention to hard-to-reach areas so that all campaign targets would be achieved successfully.
He expressed these views while chairing a meeting of the District Polio Eradication Committee (DPEC) at Deputy Commissioner Secretariat Matiari, where arrangements for the Polio Booster Dose Campaign, scheduled from August 20 to 31 were reviewed in detail.
Representing the health department, Dr. Ali Raza briefed the meeting that a total of 76, 672 children aged from birth to 10 years across 24 Union Councils of Matiari district had been targeted for the campaign. He informed the participants that 153 vaccination teams had been constituted to carry out the campaign. He also presented details of previous campaign performance, ongoing preparations, available resources and the targets set for the upcoming drive.
On the occasion, District Health Officer, Dr. Zahid informed the meeting that all necessary preparations for the campaign were being finalized by the health department. He said that comprehensive planning had been finalized for the training of field teams, availability of vaccines, effective cold chain management, a robust supervisory mechanism, continuous monitoring to ensure timely and efficient vaccination of every eligible child.
Speaking at the meeting, SSP Matiari Abdul Aleem Bullo stated that complete security would be provided to all polio teams throughout the booster dose campaign. He said that the district police had devised a comprehensive security plan under which additional personnel would be deployed in sensitive areas to ensure that vaccination teams could perform their duties without fear. He further directed the concerned officers to maintain constant coordination with the polio teams and ensure prompt response to any emergency situation.
The meeting was attended by officers of the health department, representatives of various government departments, partner Non-Government Organizations and other relevant stakeholders.