Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Given emergence of diseases among infants, health authorities have started measures to improve general immunisation of children.

Due to more focus on the anti-polio campaign, the general immunisation of children against various childhood diseases has been adversely affected.

A health official, requesting anonymity, said that most of the health workers, in addition to social workers in various parts of the province, are engaged in polio vaccination and this sometimes causes children to miss the routine immunisation in early years of their life against diseases such as TB, tetanus, measles, pneumonia and others.

During each polio campaign, the health staff from dispensaries and other health facilities monitor the anti-polio immunisation conducted by Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) workers and social workers in various parts of the province. Keeping in view this state of affairs, authorities have decided to separate staff for the routine vaccination of children and the anti-polio immunisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Talking to Daily Times, EPI Assistant Director Dr Taimur Shah also confirmed that a major problem being faced by authorities is the shortage of health staff for vaccination.

“Ideally there should be one vaccinator for 5000 children in rural areas and 10,000 in urban areas. But we have fewer staff. There are about 13,500 vaccinators for entire province,” he added.

He, however, added that the government has recently approved 1088 posts of health workers and if appointed, it would solve the problem of staff shortage to a great extent. “In order to concentrate on routine vaccination of children, the authorities have selected three pilot areas, ie Buner, Haripur and Malakand Agency, where we have separated the staff for routine vaccination and anti-polio immunisation. The same experience is going to be replicated in other areas of the province as well,” Dr Taimur said.

He also said that authorities have provided solar refrigerators to health facilities in areas that suffer more power loadshedding.

“Vaccines require a proper temperature, otherwise they are damaged and no longer remain usable,” he added.

Wilayat Shah, a medical technician at civil dispensary inside Asiya Gate locality, said that a vaccine must be used within a few hours after it is opened and diluted, otherwise it gets expired.