LHWs threaten boycott ahead of anti-polio campaign in Sindh

KARACHI: The anti-polio campaign received a setback as healthcare workers have decided to boycott the campaign in flood-affected areas for not receiving health risk allowance.

The Government of Sindh has decided to launch a week-long anti-polio campaign from October 24. The campaign aims to administer the vaccine to over 6.5 million children under the age of five across the provinces.

Just a day before the campaign is set to launch, Lady Healthcare Workers (LHW), medical, non-medical, and paramedical staff have announced a boycott of the campaign in Sindh. District Health Officer (DHO) Ghotki has written a letter to higher authorities regarding the boycott.

Chairperson All-Pakistan Lady Health Workers Association Bushra Arain said an important meeting will be held and a formal announcement of the boycott will be at the Karachi Press Club tomorrow (Monday). She said lady health workers are themselves flood victims and should be given immediate health risk allowance.

The Sindh government has decided to launch a week-long anti-polio campaign to inoculate over 6.5 million children under five from October 24. The campaign would begin on October 24 and continue till October 30 in Karachi, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, and Larkana divisions.

The decision was taken during a meeting of the anti-polio task force chaired by Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho. The meeting was attended by divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners, World Health Organization (WHO) representatives and other concerned officials.

The health minister directed officials to prepare a separate plan for children taking shelter at flood relief camps. She also directed entire polio team to ensure an immunization drive in flood-hit areas of Sindh.

She stressed to ensure children in IDP camps are vaccinated against polio. It was all decided all transport vehicles arriving into the province should be monitored and children should be administered the polio vaccine. She said there is an influx of travelers in winters arrive in Sindh and entry ports should be monitored.

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world with Afghanistan. It has so far reported a total of 20 polio cases this year — all in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

This year, the National Polio Lab (NPL) detected polio virus in sewage water samples collected from five cities including Peshawar, Swat, Rawalpindi, Bannu and South Waziristan.

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