Chairman Ulema Mashaikh Council of Pakistan Allama Hussain Ahmed Saeedi said here Saturday that his organization would offer all out support to polio eradication efforts in the country.
The announcement was made after a meeting of the Chairman Ulema Mashaikh Council with the Director General Health Punjab Dr. Zahd Pervaiz and senior officials of the health department in the Directorate General Health Services in the presence of representatives from UNICEF and WHO. Allama Saeedi said it was a matter of concern that Pakistan lagged behind the world and polio now existed only in Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan. He said polio eradication was a national cause and every organization and individual must come forward for the cause. He also welcomed the government to set up camps in his institutions where his volunteers may offer help to the immunization efforts. He also said that having talked to the responsible technical staff, he would stress that polio vaccine was halal and rumours about this were completely baseless. He also cited references from his research about the importance of human life and efforts to save it through immunization.
On the occasion, DGHS Dr. Zahid Pervez welcomed the cooperation by the chairman Ulema Mashaikh Council. He said the government would work closely with Allama Hussain Ahmed Saeedi and seek the cooperation of his staff for immunization activities in his area. He also as part of the vision of the Chief Minister, all efforts were being made to make Pakistan polio free and the cooperation of religious figures was key to the success of the efforts.
The representative from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Aslam Chaudhry gave a detailed overview of the strategic routes and key places in South Punjab where population from other four provinces enter the province. Punjab faces a major challenge of dealing with migrant populations. Due to efforts of the last few years, Punjab was able to reduce the cases to just 4 in 2014, accounts for just 1 per cent of the cases reported throughout the country.
During the meeting, polio status from global and local perspective was shared. Pakistan’s efforts and some of the initiatives taken by the Punjab government like E-Vaccs and Health Watch were also shared in the meeting. The visiting chairman Ulema Mashaikh Council said only by adopting latest technologies, Pakistan would be able to earn a respectable place in the community of nations.
