Polio in Balochistan: Vaccinators in 4 districts not paid for three months

Despite frequent outbreaks of the crippling polio virus in recent months, polio vaccinators in four districts of Balochistan have not been paid for three months. Vaccination campaigns in the high risk districts of Quetta, Qila Abdullah and Pishin have been adversely affected as a result.

“Two polio cases were reported in Balochistan this year. As cases multiplied, more campaigns were launched to prevent the virus from spreading. Despite this increase in our workload, we haven’t been paid for the past three months,” Shaista Razzaq, a health worker who supervises several polio teams in Quetta, told The Express Tribune.

One field worker is paid Rs2,000 for a single campaign—Rs1,000 each by the government and the World Health Organisation (WHO). “The payments have never been made on time,” Shaista said, adding that the government and the WHO still owed her Rs7,000. She said the field workers who go door to door to inoculate children are too poor to pay for their own transport to health centres and hence many don’t show up at the campaigns.

When contacted by The Express Tribune, both WHO and the government blamed each other for the delay. “There is an issue with the payment but it is being addressed. Payments have been released by the government and the polio workers will get their salary soon,” Balochistan Health Secretary Arshad Bugti told The Express Tribune.

“The government makes direct payments [which does not get delayed], while the WHO uses Direct Distribution Mechanism (DDM) cards. The health workers send their data from far-flung areas, which causes the delay in the WHO payments,” he added. Conversely, the regional coordinator of the WHO, Anwar Bugti, maintained while speaking to The Express Tribune that the WHO makes payment within 12 days upon receipt of the DDM cards. “The delay is due to the district health officers. The WHO is yet to receive the DDM cards for the August 18 anti-polio campaign, and the money will be transferred as soon as government officials send in the DDM cards,” he said. Poliovirus has crippled many children this year, as total number of polio cases reported in the country rose to 166 on Friday. Around 118 of those cases were reported from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), 27 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 14 from Sindh, three from Balochistan and two from Punjab. There is a need for immediate action by the government to curb this menace as soon as possible.