KARACHI: Commissioner Karachi Syed Hassan Naqvi held a meeting with representatives of Private Hospitals and Clinics Association (PHCA), seeking their support to strengthen polio eradication efforts of the government.
During the meeting, the commissioner highlighted the challenges the government had been facing in obtaining vaccination data from private hospitals, noting that this missing data was hampering analysis of polio vaccination targets.
“Mr Naqvi urged private hospitals to play their role in the national effort to eradicate polio. He also noted that some parents prefer to have their children vaccinated at private hospitals, believing it to be safer. Such vaccinations, he emphasised, are part of the antipolio drive and must be included in the data to help the administration assess the campaign’s progress,” says a press release.
He also advised doctors to ask patients whether a polio team has visited their home and whether the children have received polio drops.
The commissioner underscored the need for dispelling and misconceptions about vaccines, explaining that this initiative would guide parents and help address their concerns.
In his remarks, Dr Junaid Ali Shah representing PHCA assured the commissioner of private hospitals’ full cooperation in collecting data of children being vaccinated at their facilities.
“Officials representing private hospitals and clinics agreed to recording and sharing children’s data as well as promised to help identify and follow up missed children, to the targets of vaccination,” the statement adds.
Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Shahzad Gul Memon and AntiPolio Coordinator for Karachi Saud Yaqoob updated the meeting on the polio campaign details and vaccination procedures.
Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2025.