Districts asked to cover gaps before next polio drive

LAHORE: Punjab Emergency Operations Centre head Khizer Afzaal has called upon district health authorities to come up with a comprehensive plan to cover micro-plan and data quality gaps so that corrective measures could be taken before the next national polio immunisation drive starting on November 27.

He issued these directions while chairing a post campaign review meeting on Monday. District health management teams, including the CEOs of all districts connected via video link. Staff of international polio eradication partners also participated in the meeting.

The EOC head highlighted the needs to focus on updating the micro-plans in the aftermath of return of Afghan refugees to their homes. 'Districts need to ensure that micro-plans are prepared and submitted on time', the EOC emphasised.

He acknowledged that although Punjab had achieved more than 100 per cent coverage in the last two campaigns but a lot needs to be achieved in the provincial capital. He directed the district administrations to encourage polio teams to report accurate data so that data misreporting could be avoided.

Khizer highlighted the risk of virus spread in mega cities and suggested that next NID is being held in the context of the virus spread. 'In order to stop virus spread and reduce immunity gaps, districts needed to focus on coverage of all children by reducing the percentage of missed children.'

The EOC head laid special focus on controlling vaccine wastage and directed the district authorities to come up with a data on vaccine usage in the last three rounds. He called on districts to lay special emphasis on the pre-campaign phase on union councils which are frequently showing unsatisfactory results in micro-plan assessments and Lot Quality Assurance Sampling. In his observations, Khizer stressed on the DHMTs to ensure that union council medical officers and area in-charges are completing walk through with the teams in their respective areas ahead of the campaign. Concluding his remarks, the EOC head reiterated that Punjab was polio-free for last three years. 'Credit goes to us but if the status changes the discredit will also rest with us,' he cautioned.