(Pakistan News & Features Services)
The Deputy Commissioner of Karachi Malir, Kazi Jan Mohammad, who earned
worldwide recognition for his role in eradicating polio from Karachi against
the heaviest of odds, has urged to replicate the successful model and save the
precious lives by reviving the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).
Presiding over a meeting of the Town Health Officers of his District, he called
for practical and action-oriented approach to the EPI in order to make it more
purposeful and effective instead of just going through the motions.
“The successful model of polio eradication is in front of us and it should be
used as a guideline for the EPI activities in future. There were efforts for
eradication of polio since the 1990s but the results only came in a matter of
months when an integrated approach was adopted. We need to come out of the
comfort zone and let’s take the trouble of tackling the problem heads-on to
accomplish our goals,” the DC advised the officers.
“To get started let’s prepare a list of the resources we have at our disposal
and what we really need to function in top gear. Let all the health officers
get into action and do this fact-finding without exaggeration or manipulation.
To achieve this objective we will have a weekly meeting at my office for the
next couple of months. Then we will convene these meetings fortnightly for four
more months before making it a monthly event,” Kazi Jan Mohammad announced.
“We have assembled here to achieve the results by fast-tracking our efforts. We
do have the support for resource mobilization. We are prepared to arrange for
the resources without which we cannot work effectively. We are ready to provide
generators or even manage electricity connections at places which don’t have
power at the moment. We can’t expect to work without being fully equipped,” he
explained.
“The scale of outbreak of various diseases and the resulting deaths indicated
that the routine immunisation targets were being missed and majority of the
children were not vaccinated against the preventable diseases. We have to act
swiftly and responsibly. We have to enhance our outreach. We have to increase
the rate of efficiency as well as the rate of coverage,” he emphasized.
The participants of the meeting were informed about the salient features of the
polio eradication programme undertaken by the office of the Deputy
Commissioner. They were offered to centralize their efforts by networking with
the polio control room.
