ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel gave cheques worth Rs 250 million to frontline Polio workers whose homes had been partially or entirely destroyed by floods.
Speaking on occasion, the minister expressed gratitude on behalf of the government to the polio workers who, despite suffering losses in the devastating floods, continued to help with flood relief efforts.
“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 stated.
The Pakistan Polio Programme conducted the full extent of the losses polio workers endured this summer when 33 million people were affected by unprecedented rains and flooding that submerged a third of the nation.
“I understand your pain and had therefore requested the authorities of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) that our polio workers should be compensated as much as possible because we can’t leave our people alone at this testing time,” Minister Stated.
Dr. Shahzad Baig, the coordinator of the national emergency operations center, said that “Our first priority is always polio workers. Their services to Pakistan are immeasurable.”
“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,” she added.
According to the assessment of the polio programme, the floods had an impact on close to 12,500 polio health workers, the majority of whom were located in Sindh and Balochistan.
The government will hand out checks worth nearly Rs 250 million to polio health professionals all over the nation.
