Daily Times

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mahmood Khan alongwith Minister for Health, Taimur Saleem Jhagra administered polio drops to children here Friday at Police Services Hospital to kick off June round of anti-polio drive in the province.

Secretary Health KP Amer Sultan Tareen, Additional Secretary Health (polio) & Coordinator EOC, Asif Raheem, Team Lead N Stop, Dr Hafeezullah Khan, Team Lead UNICEF, Dr Andrew, Technical Focal Person EOC, Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, Team Lead WHO, Waheed Kamran and relevant officials of health department were also present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mehmood Khan said “Polio eradication is on top agenda of the provincial government and any negligence in this regard will not be tolerated as it was a matter of our children and national pride.”

He appealed the parents to help the government in stamping out the crippling virus from the region and vaccinate children in every campaign when the teams visit their house. Secretary Health Amer Sultan Tareen said that the recent polio cases from North Waziristan are tragic for the children and their families, but not a setback for global polio eradication efforts as other countries, including Nigeria – the last country to become polio-free – have seen wild polio surface after 30 months of zero cases. These cases emerged after a long gap of 21 months in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, indicating all the hard work and efforts that went into keeping it polio free for such a long time. He said that we are working tirelessly to contain the virus in the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with emergency vaccination campaigns and ring-fencing around the southern districts, namely Bannu, Tank, DI Khan, Lakki Marwat and North and South Waziristan.

Tareen said”Great gains have been made in the fight against polio and every effort will be made by the government to sustain those gains by fixing the remaining gaps.” Earlier, sharing details with media, Additional Secretary Health (Polio) and Coordinator EOC, Asif Raheem said”More than 2.58 million children will be vaccinated in 25 districts of the province in this campaign starting from June 27, 2022.”