Secretary Health Asks DHOs To Fix Gaps In PEI Or Else Face The Music

PESHAWAR (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th Jan, 2017 ) : Secretary Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Abid Majeed has set a two months deadline for the district health officers (DHOs) to fix the remaining gaps in polio eradication in their respective districts saying that in case of any negligence disciplinary action will be taken against the weak performing DHOs.

Secretary Health Abid Majeed said that weak performing district health officers will be transferred if they fail to meet the targets by March next saying that negligence was not an option in polio eradication.

He was chairing provincial review meeting of December NID with all the DHOs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Coordinator EOC Akbar Khan, UNICEF Team Leader Dr Johar, Technical Focal Person BMGF Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, Coordinator Emergency Response Team WHO Wando, Deputy Directors EPI Dr Akram Shah, Dr Taimur Ali Shah and DHOs of all the districts ofwere in attendance.

r Abid Majeed maintained that extra efforts will be required by the districts health management in the last low season to achieve the polio free target. He directed the DHOs to take a lead in polio eradication and inaugurate the January campaign in their respective districts.

Secretary Health appreciated the achievements made by the districts in terms of improved coverage of missed children and other programmatic areas and stressed on sustained efforts to capitalize on the achievements made so far so as to give a last push to reach the finishing line.

UNICEF Team Leader Dr Johar pointed out that quality of campaigns could be improved only if the front line workers were given quality training with focus on coverage of still missed children. Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah, technical focal person BMGF said that it was the last low season and extra effort was needed by all the stakeholders to reach the finishing line.

Earlier, the secretary health was briefed in detail about performance of each district with focus on remaining challenges and hiccups in achieving the target of polio eradication. It is pertinent to mention here that the province has recorded 50 percent decline in reporting of polio cases as compared to last year.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported 8 cases in 2016 as compared to 17 cases in 2015. APP/ayz/rn