Daily Times

Like the rest of the country, the 5-day integrated nationwide polio eradication drive will commence in Azad Jammu and Kashmir from Monday, December 16, official sources said.

The anti-polio campaign will continue till December 20 without any pause.

At least 7,425,500 children under 5 years of age are targeted to be administered the polio vaccine in all 10 districts of the liberated territory, as announced by the State Health authorities, the AJK State Health Department sources told APP here on Saturday.

Elaborating, the AJK State Health authorities said that only in AJK’s metropolis, Muzaffarabad over 1.30 lakh children up to five years of age are targeted to be administered the polio vaccines during the drive, to be exercised without any break, the sources said.

At least 3995 mobile teams of paramedical staff will be constituted to visit door to door to administer the polio vaccine drops during the campaign across AJK, where a total of 448 fixed centers at local government hospitals and subordinate health facilities will be established by the State Polio Eradication Committee of the AJK State Health Services Department with the coordination of the World Health Organization (WHO), the sources revealed.

The total staff to be involved in the AJK-wide national drive includes mobile teams comprising over 5000 workers who will be visiting door to door to immunize the children of and under 5 years of age with the polio vaccine drops during the campaign, the sources underlined.

The fixed centers will be set up at the state-run hospitals, basic health units, and rural health centers, as well as various other spots to vaccinate the children with the anti-polio drops, the sources elaborated.

A total of 169 transit points will be set up for conducting the drive under the supervision of the concerned area in charges, the sources said.

The state health department’s Polio Eradication Committee has made adequate arrangements to execute the polio-eradication campaign in a befitting manner, the sources asserted, adding that a total of 844 areas in charge will supervise the drive at the union council level across AJK in 35 tehsils, and besides, a total of 245 union councils throughout AJK State.

A central polio control room has been set up in the office of the provincial program manager, EPI, in AJK State’s metropolis, Muzaffarabad, to monitor the drive and receive any complaints by official phone No. 05822-920791, the sources said.

In the lakeside district of Mirpur, at least 76,656 children under 5 years of age will be administered the polio vaccine.

District Health Officer Dr. Fida Hussain told APP here on Saturday that in Mirpur district over 431 mobile teams of paramedics in all 51 zones will visit door to door besides serving at the 41 fixed centers and the 14 transit points to administer the polio vaccine drops to under 5 children.

Earlier, while chairing a meeting held here to give final touches to the arrangements for the scheduled 5-day national polio eradication drive in this district, the DHO advised the parents to fully cooperate with the mobile teams of paramedics by getting their children administered with the polio vaccine by the mobile paramedical staff teams.

It may be added that the state health authorities claimed that there had been no case of polio disease in any child detected in any part of Azad Jammu & Kashmir during the last 24 years.