Islamabad, December 10 – The Government is grateful for the services of polio workers, who despite suffering losses in the catastrophic floods continued to assist with flood relief activities, said Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel on Friday.

At a ceremony held in Thatta, the Health Minister distributed cheques among frontline workers whose homes were either washed away in the floods or were partially damaged.

“I salute your courage and passion. Despite suffering losses, you came to the aid of your fellow citizens and supported the Government in flood relief operations,” he said.

The Pakistan Polio Programme had conducted a comprehensive assessment of the damages that polio workers suffered this summer when unprecedented rains and flooding affected 33 million people and left a third of the country under water.

“I understand your pain and had therefore requested the authorities of the NEOC that our polio workers should be compensated as much as possible because we can’t leave our people alone in this testing time,” the Minister said.

“Our first priority are always polio workers. Their services to Pakistan are immeasurable,” said National Emergency Operations Centre Coordinator Dr. Shahzad Baig. 

“It was a huge task to identify the workers affected by the floods, complete their documentation and offer these cheques. There are over 350,000 frontline staff and we conducted an extensive exercise in all provinces to assess the impact of the floods on our teams, Dr. Baig added.

Nearly 12,500 polio health workers were affected by the floods, according to the polio programme’s assessment, with a majority of them in Sindh and Balochistan.

The government will be distributing cheques worth nearly Rs250 million to polio health workers around the country.

Note for the Editor:

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of five years. It invades the nervous system and can cause paralysis or even death. While there is no cure for polio, vaccination is the most effective way to protect children from this crippling disease. Each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased. Repeated immunisations have protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio-free, besides the two endemic countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Zulfiqar Babakhel, Media Manager, NEOC, 0345-9165937

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.