Travel restrictions: No directives given to airports

Passengers flying this week are concerned they will be asked for proof of inoculation.

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

Twenty-four hours after international travel restrictions were recommended for Pakistan, scores of people travelling abroad rushed to the Jinnah International Airport on Tuesday for polio ‘inoculation certificates’.

“Can you please issue certificates for me and my children?” asked Mrs Akhtar, whose flight to Australia is scheduled for May 21. “Sorry madam, we can’t issue certificates,” replied polio worker Muhammad Imran Khan, who is deployed outside the airport’s gate. “Please ask airport authorities.”

When approached, the officer at the information counter brushed them off. “Don’t worry madam, the WHO [World Health Organisation] has just recommended travel restrictions but we aren’t given anything in writing,” the officer said.

This was the standard response of airport officials at the country’s major international airports when frantic passengers and journalists asked if they had received instructions about vaccinating all international travellers.

Passengers flying this week are concerned that they will be asked to show proof of inoculation when they reach their destinations, and fear complications.

“My daughter and sons are trying to get complete information but we have been running from pillar to post for hours. I’m worried they will restrict my travel due to unavailability of the certificate,” another passenger, Memoona said.

Four polio vaccination booths were established by the Sindh government at the airport for the administration of drops to children only. The staff said that hundreds of people are visiting them and insisting on polio certificates.

“It is the health department’s task not ours. We aren’t given any instruction and will implement, if higher authorities issue any order,” said CAA spokesperson Abid Qaimkhani.

Similarly in Lahore, Islamabad and Quetta, CAA authorities say they have not received any directives from the government for activating polio counters.

“We are all set but are waiting to get directives from the federal government,” CAA Airport Manager at Benazir International Airport Muhammad said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2014.