QUETTA: An official said on Tuesday that the polio vaccination program, which was supposed to start this week in all 36 districts of Balochistan, has been postponed for two weeks.
Inamul Haq, coordinator of the Balochistan Emergency Operations Center (EOC), announced that the province-wide polio vaccination campaign would start on December 30.
According to him, campaign preparations were reviewed at a high-level meeting on December 16. At the meeting, which was attended by officials from every district, it was noted that further planning was necessary to guarantee a successful campaign following the polio virus’s widespread presence in Balochistan.
So far this year, 26 instances (41 percent) have been found in Balochistan, 18 in KP, 17 in Sindh, and one each in Punjab and Islamabad out of the 63 cases reported from all over Pakistan.
It was mentioned at the conference that in order to attain the intended results, micro-planning, team training, and enhancing community communication must be the main areas of concentration.
However, according to sources, the polio campaign was delayed because of a health workers’ strike, which was called for by a health alliance that had declared they would not participate in the immunization program unless their demands were met.
Among their demands are the permanent hiring of physicians and other health authorities, the termination of hospital public-private partnerships, and the supply of medications, equipment, and other medical supplies.
According to the sources, the health alliance members had already vowed to boycott all campaigns if their demands were not met, even prior to the announcement of this polio drive plan.
