KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah inaugurating Measles Rubella Catch-Up Campaign said that 19 million children, aged between 9 months to 15 years, across the province would be vaccinated and simultaneously 8.2 million children under 5 years would be given polio drops.

The inauguration ceremony was organized at NJV (Narayan Jaganath Vaidiya) Government Higher Secondary School- the first and oldest public educational institute in the province, founded in 1855 by educationist Sir Bartle Frere. The programme was attended by Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, Secretary Health Zulfiqar Shah, PD EPI Dr Irshad Memo.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said that it was his government’s prime responsibility to safeguard the children and adult population of Sindh from deadly and communicable diseases. “The health department through EPI Program have played a vital role in improving immunization services to prevent significant outbreaks,” he said and added the nation-wide Measles Rubella Catch-Up Campaign has been starting and would continue till 27th November 27.

Mr Shah said that 19 million children across Sindh aged 9 months to 15 years would be vaccinated against Measles and Rubella and 8.2 million children under 5 years would also be given polio drops during the on-going drive. Murad Ali Shah said that the health department with the support of the Education department would cover more than 6.5 million Children in approximately 71,856 both Public and Private sector Schools. He announced that the remaining eligible children would be covered through fixed, out-reach and special mobile teams.

The chief minister requested the parents to cooperate with government/ health teams to vaccinate their eligible children against Measles and Rubella. “The Sindh government’s efforts have resulted in zero cases of Polio since more than one year and our environmental samples have also come negative for the first time,” he said and added this was a big achievement.

The chief minister lauded the support from communities and the media to purge the province from the from crippling disease. He urged every parent to get their children vaccinated “EPI program is offering free of cost immunization against 12 deadly diseases, and it should be our responsibility to protect our future generations,” he said. Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated the drive by witnessing the vaccination process and administered polio drops to the children.

Media talk: Talking to the media the chief minister said he has directed secretary health to resolve all the legal demands of the vaccinators currently protesting for acceptance of their demands. He added that it was unreasonable to start protests when the government had launched a war against deadly and communicable diseases. “It is against the ethics of the health profession to protest at the cost of healthcare services.” Replying to a question, he said that a survey was being made to assess the losses of fire that broke out in Saddar Cooperative market.