Floods: Polio workers to get Rs250 million

ISLAMABAD: The Health Ministry on Sunday decided to distribute Rs250 million among the flood-affected polio workers across the country.

Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel said that the workers continued relief activities despite the damage caused by the calamity.

Around 33 million people got affected and polio workers also suffered heavy losses during the catastrophe with one-third of the country under water, Qadir Patel added.

Abdul Qadir Patel said that according to the polio program, about 12,500 polio workers have been affected by the floods.

“In this testing time, we cannot leave our workers alone and we should ensure maximum compensation to polio workers.” the health minister said.

Read more: Type 1 poliovirus detected in environmental samples

Mr. Patel said that majority of the polio workers are in Sindh and Balochistan, many of their houses were either washed away in the floods or partially damaged.

Type-1 wild poliovirus has been detected in environmental samples, the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) confirmed.

According to the details, the positive samples were collected from Dera Ismail Khan (DI Khan) on November 19 and Lahore on November 17.