LAHORE: Punjab Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) coordinator and provincial head of the polio programme Khizer Afzaal has warned the district health officialsin the province ofstrict action if any of them showed poor performance in the upcoming polio campaigns.

Presiding over a meeting held here on Thursday to review the performance of districts during the recently concluded outbreak response drive in five districts, he said if constant positive samples surface in an area for more than one month, all children there would be at risk of catching the crippling ailment. So, the districtsneeded to act quickly to prevent local transmission of the poliovirus in Punjab, he said.

Due to persistent issues in polio campaigns` quality, only Lahore and Rawalpindi district health management teams were invited to the review meeting.

The EOC coordinator expressed concern over a lack of seriousness shown by the health officials of the two districts, saying: `I know there is a lack of will which stems from favouritism and ignoring merit in polio teams. Grey areas exist in both districts. I have information about officials who do not want to improve.

Let me reiterate that this is last chance. I will not show any leniency, Mr Afzaal warned the Rawalpindi and Lahore health administrations.He specifically expressed his displeasure at the deputy district health officers (DDHOs) showing poor performance, directing them to stay in field with polio teams all the time.

`Unvaccinated children, trainings issues, and positive samples are constantly being reported from the two districts. So, the officers need to understand their problems and address them,` he said.

Mr Afzaal expressed his dissatisfaction with performance of volunteers, said, `Despite my repeated reminders, volunteers still formed a major chunk of polio teams`. He said as volunteers had minimal stake in polio campaigns, the campaign quality was bound to be compromised because of their participation.