The Senator paid a surprise visit to various localities in
Islamabad and was accompanied by National Coordinator for Emergency Operation
Centre (EOC) Dr Rana Safdar and other senior officers of the health ministry,
ICT and CDA.
Our Sehat Muhafiz have brought us so close to polio eradication
that we cannot afford to relax hence me and leadership of EOC have come out to
support our valiant teams for getting rid of this disease completely" said
Prime Minister's Focal Person Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq during her surprise
visit to monitor the polio campaign here in Islamabad.
“Pakistan has recorded historic low number of
cases in 2017 and we don’t want to lose this opportunity to defeat this
crippling virus by being vigilant, proactive and persistent,” said the Senator
while visiting various localities in and around Islamabad. Prime Minister of
Pakistan has constituted a special task force to specifically monitor the
campaign in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and report back to him on
daily basis to ensure maximum coverage during this and all the upcoming
campaigns. Though there has been no case reported from the twin cities for over
two years but virus has been found in the environmental samples of both
Islamabad and Rawalpindi drainage thus raising the concerns amongst officials
and communities.
Noting that the
polio drive in the capital was critical, the Senator said would be personally
monitoring the campaign in the city. She also took notice of gaps in the
provision of routine immunisation services against nine deadly diseases of
children in the area and issued directions to ensure that every child is
immunised without fail.
Senator Ayesha
Raza Farooq visited vaccinators working in slums located on the outskirts of
Islamabad to personally monitor the immunisation campaign on the second day of
the five-day nationwide drive. The Senator visited the homes, interacted with
parents and community elders in Pakistan Town, H 9. Koral and other areas. She
went inside the homes and asked mothers if their children had been vaccinated
by vaccinators. She urged the families and mothers to vaccinate their children
against diseases explaining that vaccination was being provided by the
government for free for every child against nine diseases and that it was the
responsibility of the parents to avail these services for the health and
wellbeing of their children.
She also
inspected the children playing in the streets to see whether their fingers had
been marked after they were vaccinated. Senator talked to polio teams and
checked their tally sheets. She also advised polio teams to pay attention to
children who may be visiting relatives since there is a possibility that such
children are missed in the drive.
Ayesha Raza
Farooq further directed that each house, including makeshift shanties, nomads
and travelling families with under five children should be administered polio
drops and properly marked with permanent markers to ensure each household is
covered.
Over 250,000,
front line workers (Sehat Muhafiz) are administering polio drops to over 37.7
million children under the age of five years across all provinces, FATA, Gilgit
Baltistan (GB) and AJK. Target for Islamabad is 0.312 million during the
current campaign for which ICT and CDA administration have formed 1346 teams
and set up 73 teams at various transit points across Islamabad.