LAKKI MARWAT - District Coordination Officer Nisar Ahmad has said that any obstacle from any quarter in polio eradication campaign will not be tolerated at all.
He was speaking at a joint meeting of district and frontier region polio eradiation committees in his office on Friday. The meeting reviewed arrangements for anti-polio drive commencing from June 4 and decided to arrange a special training activity on May 31 in district council hall at district headquarters complex Tajazai to equip heads of line departments with supervision tips and techniques.
Among others, assistant political agent Muhammad Fayyaz Sherpao, HRDO Syed Khalid Israr Shah, EDO Health Dr Abdul Ghaffar Wazir, DO education Muhammad Ayyub Khan, DSP Bashar Khan, PPHI Coordinator Ihsanullah Khan, NRDF coordinator Shahid Anwar, NCHD district programme manager Illyas Khattak and TMO Abdul Wahid Khattak attended the meeting.
Referring to the principal of a private school who was present in the meeting and did not allow polio team to enter his school for vaccination of children below the age of five years in previous campaign, the DCO made it clear that such obstacles by any individual or any organisation were intolerable. He said that the local administration would take strict action against those who would create obstacles for polio workers in the process of administering children with oral polio vaccine. “The government employees engaged in anti-polio drives will also face strict action for dereliction on their part,” he said.
He warned that the employees showing poor performance in polio eradication drives would lose their government jobs. He directed the health department to engage assistant district officers of education department for supervision of the three-day activity.
“The ESED ADOs as well as other officials concerned of line departments will be bound to attend evening meetings in district control room during anti-polio drives to share their comprehensive supervision report with officials of health department and district administration,” he maintained.
Nisar said that a list of transit points should be provided to district police authorities for deployment of cops there. “The policemen will stop public transport vehicles at transit points and help polio teams to immunize children traveling with their parents,” he added. He said that the national research and development foundation should play an effective role to ensure coverage of refusal cases. “Besides the workers and volunteers of national commission for human development and CMDO should educate people especially parents on usefulness of anti polio drops and hazardous effects of the disease on children’s health,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Mother and Newborn Child Programme with the support of UNICEF arranged a ceremony in District Headquarters Hospital Tajazai on Friday to distribute kits among newly deployed community midwives.
After distribution of kits MNCH coordinator Dr Khyal Afridi, EDO Health Dr Abdul Ghaffar Wazir, DO Dr Abdul Rehman, MS Dr Muhammad Ishaq, Public Health Specialist Dr Hidayatullah and PPHI coordinator Ihsanullah Khan said that MNCH program had deployed 14 community midwives in their respective catchments on the completion of 18 months training and after proper registration with Pakistan Nursing Council.
They said that CMWs would establish birth stations in their respective localities to provide better healthcare facilities to mothers and children. “Besides, their active role will be helpful to reduce infant and maternal mortality rare in the district”, they said. They said that community midwives were skilled health providers, therefore they should make all-out efforts to provide facilities to the women like antenatal and post natal checkups, birth preparedness counseling, family planning advice and safe delivery.
They called upon the midwives to refer complicated delivery cases to the health facilities to save maternal lives.