ISLAMABAD : President Asif Ali Zardari advised the government on Thursday to make District Coordination Officers (DCOs) and district functionaries accountable for assuming the ownership of National Emergency Action Plan 2011 for Polio Eradication.The government should also monitor their performance in implementing the plan at the level of union councils, villages, streets and homes, he added.The President gave this directive when he was informed during a meeting on polio eradication campaign that this year a total of 33 polio cases have been detected in 33 high risk districts which include 10 cases in Sindh, 14 in FATA and seven in Balochistan.
The meeting to review the progress made on polio eradication campaign held here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr was attended by Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Barrister Syed Masood Kauser and Chief Minister Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan Syed Mehdi Shah, Secretary General Salman Faruqui, Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, Ms Asma Arbab Alamgir, MNA, Begum Shahnaz Wazir Ali, MNA, National Chair Pakistan Polio plus Committee of Rotary International Aziz Memon, Health Secretary Mrs Nargis Sethi, provincial health secretaries, Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar and other high official of the relevant departments.
The President while expressing concern over the polio cases, said that the help of security agencies be sought in implementing the anti-polio drive in the tribal areas.
He said that the security situation may have been an impediment in the anti-polio drive in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA),but there was no justification for slackness or poor performance in other areas of the country.
He directed the health and other relevant departments involved in polio eradication campaign to step up efforts to penetrate the campaign to the level of union councils, villages and streets and homes to make Pakistan a polio free country.
The President said that mere launching of the National Emergency Action Plan 2011 for Polio Eradication was not enough, adding,”what needs to be done is implementation and monitoring of the plan at the district, tehsil, UCs and even at the levels of streets and homes to banish polio from the country and a singe child is not left without polio vaccination”.
Structure in the shape of National Action Plan exists at the top level, now it needs to be implemented at the lower level to benefit from the plan, he said.
The President appreciated and lauded the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation for providing generous contribution and support to the government of Pakistan in polio eradication campaign.
The President said that polio was a crippling disease and continued to threaten opportunities for children, adding, unfortunately Pakistan was among few countries which were still not completely polio free.
The President asked all the relevant departments to reach out the inaccessible children in the tribal areas so that a single child is not left without vaccination. APP
