Monday, March 2, 2015

Pakistan - Anti-polio campaigns postponed Balochistan due to a lack of security guards





Anti-polio campaigns, which were to be held in the Quetta, Zhob and Shirani districts of Balochistan on Monday, have been postponed once again due to a lack of security guards available to guard vaccinators.

In Quetta, the same anti-polio campaign was postponed in mid-February, as a majority of the police were engaged in providing security to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other VIPs who had visited Quetta.
According to an official of the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Balochistan, anti-polio drives could not be initiated in three high-risk districts — Quetta, Qila Abdullah and Shirani — while anti-polio campaigns are under way in five other districts — Jhal Magsi, Jaffarabad, Nasirabad and Pishin.
“There was no security personnel available to guard the anti-polio vaccinators, which is why we had to postpone the campaign,” an official said.
According to sources, security personnel and police were deployed for the security of politicians and senior government officials.
The Quetta district was divided in two zones, and a campaign was launched in one zone a month ago. However, an anti-polio campaign was postponed in another zone twice due to the lack of availability of security forces.

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