MNA Ayesha Raza Farooq inaugurates the three-day polio campaign

Lahore: Prime Minister’s Focal Person for Polio Eradication, MNA Ms Ayesha Raza Farooq, inaugurated the three-day polio campaign here at local hospital in Model Town area on Monday. The current campaign spans over three days (12 to 14 January), and as part of the activity vaccination teams will administer polio drops to children below five years throughout the province. Present at the occasion were Director EPI Dr. Munir Ahmed, WHO Team Leader Dr. Ubaidul Islam and senior official of the provincial health department.

Underlining the importance of vaccination, Ayesha Raza urged mothers to ensure their children are fully vaccinated. She expressed satisfaction at the number of people turning up for immunization of their children. She also said that special emphasis was being laid on the immunization of migrant population in Punjab in light of the trends being witnessed in the last few years.

She also visited a UC dominated by Pashtun population and personally monitored the performance of the staff.  She met the elders of the community and conveyed to them the importance of the immunization activity. The community demanded the installation of a water filtration plant as they had no access to clean drinking water.

Later, she visited the purpose-built newly-established Emergency Operation Center in the DG Health office. She appreciated the work at the center and urged the staff to leave no stone unturned to make Pakistan Polio free.

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria are the only countries in the world battling polio cases currently. Despite a sharp rise in the number of polio cases in the country, Punjab managed to reduce the cases to only 3 in 2014.