RAWALPINDI: After a break of two-and-a-half months, the health department will start the anti-polio campaign in the district from Monday.

The department aims at vaccinating over 700,000 children in the district. The last anti-polio campaign was held in July after Eidul Fitr. The delay in initiating the drive in the 24 high-risk union councils of the district has been attributed to the absence of staff.

As many as 750 special teams will vaccinate children during the five-day campaign.

It may be mentioned here that poliovirus has been detected in the sewerage system of the district thrice during the current year.

A senior health department official told Dawn that in the past special teams were deployed in transit areas, including bus terminals and railway stations, to administer anti-polio drops to children coming from Fataand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

However, this year, the practice has not been followed, he added. The official said Rawalpindi was in close proximity to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and there were chances that the virus might spread in the region if the local administration did not take the matter seriously.

Most of the people living in the high-risk 24 union councils had come from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Cases where households had refused to vaccinate their children were also high in these areas.

In October 16, 2012, a cleric in Pirwadhai`s Fauji Colony had issued a decree, forbidding the residents from getting their children vaccinated. There are many other pocl
The latest World Health Organisation (WHO) report also raised questions over the performance of the City District Government Rawalpindi and health department.