By Asma Kundi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel has lauded the services of polio workers in the flood-hit areas as 12,500 polio health workers were affected by the floods in the South Asian country.
According to the polio programme’s assessment, as many as 12,500 polio health workers were affected by the floods, especially in Sindh and Balochistan. The Health Minister distributed cheques among frontline workers whose homes were either washed away in the floods or were partially damaged. “I salute your courage and passion. Despite suffering losses, you came to the aid of your fellow citizens and supported the Government in flood relief operations,” the minister said.
Polio assessment
The Pakistan Polio Programme had conducted a comprehensive assessment of the damages that polio workers suffered this summer when unprecedented rains and flooding affected more than 33 million people and left a third of Pakistan under water.
“I understand your pain and had therefore requested the authorities of the NEOC that our polio workers should be compensated as much as possible because we can’t leave our people alone in this testing time,” the Minister said.
“Our first priority are always polio workers. Their services to Pakistan are immeasurable,” said National Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Dr. Shahzad Baig. “It was a huge task to identify the workers affected by the floods, complete their documentation and offer these cheques. There are over 350,000 frontline staff and we conducted an extensive exercise in all provinces to assess the impact of the floods on our teams, Dr. Baig added. The government will be distributing cheques worth nearly Rs250 million to polio health workers around the country.
