Vaccinate your child till June 14
CHITRAL, June 11: All those children below the age of two years, especially in the far-off areas of Chitral, who could not be vaccinated for any reasons should approach the health department teams till June 15.
This was stated by District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Israr Ullah here on Thursday. He was speaking at a function held in connection with the Mother and Child week.
The DHO said the week-long programme starting from June 11 would also provide anti-worm medicines to the children in the age group of two to five years. Pregnant women would also be vaccinated against tetanus besides creating public awareness of all the health issues through the LHWs.
District Coordinator for the lady health worker programme Dr Ibrahim said that vaccines and anti-worm medicines had been sent to all the areas of Chitral. He also mentioned all the steps taken to make the programme a success.
Extended Programme on Immunization coordinator Dr Nazir Hussain, Dr Gulzar Ahmed, Dr Sami Ullah, Dr Shuja and others were also present on the occasion.—S. Nazir Hussain
Looking at the pictures of the event it appears that this highly important day was celebrated in a haste without proper preparations. The venue is the parking area of the Women and Children Hospital Chitral and the participants are staff of the hospital themselves. Such mass awareness raising campaigns need to be celebrated ensuring the participation of the general public in order to be objective oriented and effective. The DHO and the Coordinator need to be held responsible for holding such sham kind of event as both the officials are public servants and the man in the street provides his hard earned money through indirect taxation in order to run and fund such programs. Raising awareness amongst the people through such events celebrations is the responsibility of the health department. In the future a proper planning should be made to ensure the participation of the common man in such awareness raising events.