Wageless in Balochistan - bane of polio vaccinators’ lives

The Express Tribune

Anti-polio campaigners in Balochistan have gone without a salary for the past four months – a shocking fact considering the constant life threats faced by those going door-to-door vaccinating children against the crippling disease. Their job isn’t made any easier by highly conservative families who are unconvinced about the need for administering polio drops to their children.

“We have not been paid for the past four months,” said Shaista Razzaq, 30. She was busy along with 83 other female polio workers in a three-day campaign in Kechi Beg, situated on the outskirts of Quetta. The anti polio drive started in five districts of Balochistan on Sunday.

Balochistan, the country’s biggest province, has 914 polio teams and each team consists of two polio workers. As part of the campaign, 54 teams were deployed at transit points of the cities and 95 at fixed sites. Polio workers face opposition in some places of Quetta and northern areas of Balochistan, where people believe the campaign is a western conspiracy to restrict the Muslim population.

Shaista, who has served the anti-polio campaign for the past seven years, says it is not easy to campaign against polio in insurgency-hit Balochistan. “I have been threatened on several occasions yet I have continued my work,” she added. A polio team was attacked with a hand grenade once in Quetta at the end of 2013. However, no one was hurt as the workers managed to throw back the grenade. The possibility of more attacks, therefore, cannot be ruled out.

The wage of a polio worker is Rs500 per day – half of the amount (Rs250) is paid by the provincial health department while the other half is provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to the WHO, polio workers should be paid after completion of the campaign. However, they have not been paid after four anti-polio drives by the WHO and the government.

Balochistan has been declared polio free for the past 14 months. However, any negligence or lapse on the part of workers may succeed in bringing back the virus and putting the lives of thousands of children at risk.