Polio vaccination: Workers demand tight security for restarting campaign

Polio workers have been constantly receiving death threats & can not initiate the campaign without adequate security.

KARACHI:

After the murder of five polio workers in seemingly coordinated attacks in December, 2012, polio workers have asked for foolproof security ahead of the anti-polio vaccination campaign starting from today (April 11).

The drive will reportedly restart at Sohrab Goth, Pukhtoonabad, Landhi, Sultanabad, Manghopir and Kunwari Colony. Sources of the health department said that the polio workers have been constantly receiving death threats and could not initiate the campaign without adequate security.

Additional Police Chief Ghulam Shabir Sheikh presided over a meeting on Wednesday to chalk out a strategy to increase the security in the all the risky areas of the city.

The drive will start in some parts of Karachi on April 11 and another drive from April 15 to 17. When contacted, the spokesperson of the World Health Organization (WHO) accepted that due to the security hazards, Pakistan could not become a polio-free country, adding that the government should do something for the security of polio workers - especially in FATA and Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2013.