KARACHI: Pakistani health authorities have postponed an anti-polio campaign in nine districts in the eastern Punjab province due to floods, the country’s polio program said on Friday.
Rivers in Pakistan, particularly Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej, have swelled to dangerous levels due to record monsoon rains and excess water released from upstream India, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate in the most populous Punjab province.
Pakistan’s polio program has announced an anti-polio vaccination campaign in 99 districts across the country, starting Sept. 1, with an aim to inoculate more than 28 million children against the crippling disease.
But the flood situation has forced health authorities to postpone the drive in Lahore, Sheikhupura, Kasur, Okara, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Bahawalpur districts.
“The polio campaign in other parts of the country will start from September 1,” the polio program said in a statement. “The campaign in Rawalpindi, Attock, Mianwali, Faisalabad, DG Khan, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts [of Punjab] will be held as per schedule.”
