Meeting of provincial task force on Polio Chaired by Chief Secretary Sindh Siddiq Memon. Also present in the meeting are Prime Ministers Focal Person on Polio Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq, Chairperson Monitoring and Oversight Committee Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho, National Technical Consultant Dr. Altaf Bosan, Coordinator EOC Sindh Fayaz Jatoi, Technical Focal Person Sindh Dr. Ahmad Ali Shaikh, technical coordinator EOC Sindh Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Commissioner from Districts of interior Sindh, Deputy Commissioners from Karachi districts, DIG head quarters Karachi, Project Director EPI Agha Ashwaq among others as well as national and provincial representatives from UNICEF and WHO.
The Chief secretary said that it is heartening that since the last meeting, the partners and officers have done a better job, things are improving and milestones have been achieved. Yet this is the last ditch effort so we must get together and give it one last push to eradicate polio from Pakistan. The participation of female teams has also improved but we must also focus on improving routine EPI.
Dr. Azra Fazal Pachuho welcomed Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq and Dr. Altaf Bossan and said that the Islamabad team has been very helpful in the efforts against polio. The good thing is that Karachi has upped the act and actual coverage is above 90%. Northern Sindh has also significantly improved but we must bring these numbers to 95 to 100 %. Refusals are few but they are in pockets and have to be addressed. Scattered refusals are not an issue but clusters must be tackled to prevent polio in the environment. Meetings are taking place to improve routine immunization but district polio control rooms also must take up this task and have monthly meetings to review what vaccinators are doing for routine immunization. Vaccinators must be present at the facilities for RI.
Coordinator EOC Sindh Dr. Fayaz Jatoi gave a presentation to the team and said that there were 7 cases in Karachi in 2015 and this year so far there is 1. We made history in Sindh by having negative environment samples for 3 months running however we there is still much more work to be done. Overall performance has improved significantly in Karachi and Northern Sindh but we must keep improving and concentrate on the coverage of missed children, 1 child missed is a threat to all. He said that there is an routine immunization (RI) acceleration plan and EPI/DG Health and EOC Health Joint Teams will visit each district to review Routine Immunization and implement activities to strengthen RI. The level of ownership taken by Commissioners and DCs has given us very good results. He also requested support from the provincial task force and as the Chief Secretary to issue directives for daily district polio control room meetings by DCs and ADCs, to monthly review meetings by divisional task forces, placement of 2 vaccinators per UC health facility and an award and appreciation mechanism. He also requested secretary health for the recruitment of medical officers and filling of vacant pocket of LHWs.
