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LAHORE, Oct 02 (APP):Chief Secretary Punjab Zahid Akhtar Zaman has directed the health department
to improve routine immunization across the province for a complete eradication
of polio.
He issued this directive while presiding over a high-level meeting at the Civil Secretariat
here on Monday. The meeting reviewed health reforms and measures to control polio,
dengue, and conjunctivitis.
It was decided that a special campaign to improve routine immunization would be launched
in eight districts – Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, DG Khan, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Jhang,
Gujarat and Pakpattan.
The Chief Secretary Punjab ordered that the ongoing national anti-polio campaign in the
province be made a success and 100 percent coverage of missed children be ensured.
He said that continuous efforts were needed to eradicate polio and dengue. He said that
concrete measures were being taken for the improvement of health and education sector,
adding that the implementation of health insurance programme in government hospitals was
yielding positive results.
Secretary Health Ali Jan gave a detailed briefing at the meeting. He said that in the anti-polio
campaign of October, the health authorities had set a target of vaccinating more than 22 million
children in 36 districts of Punjab. He said the rate of routine immunization in Lahore had
increased by 15.3 percent under a special campaign.
He mentioned that all necessary arrangements had been made in the hospitals for dealing with the patients of conjunctivitis whose number was seeing a downward trend. He said that Lahore and Rawalpindi were
on high alert regarding dengue. Top officials of the Health department attended the meeting
while all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners participated through video link.