QUETTA (Web Desk) - Authorities in Balochistan on Tuesday cited a lack of preparedness as they announced that a planned polio vaccine campaign in the province was being postponed until Dec 30, a staggering blow for a region that has reported the highest number of cases of the crippling virus this year.
Pakistan on Monday launched the latest nationwide drive to vaccinate 44 million children in 143 districts from Dec 16-22 amid a surge in polio cases compared to previous years, with the 2024 tally reaching 63 last week.
In Balochistan province, which has reported the highest number of polio cases this year, 26, the anti-polio drive was first postponed by a day on Monday due to security reasons.
However, the campaign was not launched on Tuesday as planned, with the Provincial Emergency Operation Center (EOC) saying it would now start on Dec 30 in all 36 districts of the remote, impoverished province that has for decades been plagued by an insurgency by separatist militants who frequently attack government officials, security forces and investment projects.
“The campaign will now start on December 30th,” the EOC said in a statement. “The latest nationwide anti-polio campaign in Balochistan has been postponed due to required preparations at the district level.”
Dr Aftab Kakar, a senior health official in Quetta, said provincial authorities had decided to delay the vaccination drive due to a boycott by the Grand Health Alliance Balochistan, an umbrella organisation representing health care workers in the province.
“Paramedical staff was involved with us [previously] … but we have prepared a new strategy now,” he told Arab News. “We won’t hire those paramedics who boycotted the latest anti-polio drive in Balochistan, and a decision has been made to hire private staff who will serve in the next campaign starting from Dec 30.”
Jamal Shah, a representative of the alliance, said the paramedics had not boycotted the campaign but were registering their protest against the involvement of “medically unskilled” people locally hired by deputy commissioners to take part in the campaigns.