KARACHI, Aug 1: The staff at the WHO polio office on the I&I depot premises on Rafeequi Shaheed Road have not reported for duty for the past one week or so citing security concerns, it emerged on Wednesday.

A government officer having his office in the government’s medical store site (I&I depot) told Dawn that other offices on the same premises were working as per their daily routine.

Work at the WHO office had been suspended for some time in the wake of an attack on a foreign WHO consultant’s vehicle on July 17 and the killing of a WHO supervisor, a Pakistani national, on July 20 in the Gadap area. The foreign consultants and local supervisors were associated with polio eradication activities carried out in union council 4 of Gadap Town.

A source said the WHO office having about a dozen employees had virtually been closed till security clearance by their high-ups. The WHO field staff also failed to conduct routine independent monitoring following the three-day national immunisation campaign against polio after the two violent incidents in Gadap.

Speaking to Dawn from Islamabad, a senior official of the WHO on polio eradication, however, said that the staff were not attending work as the authorities were still assessing the situation. The WHO staff participated in activities wholeheartedly in line with the immunisation plan and a campaign had been undertaken in the entire city, except parts of UC-4 of Gadap Town.

About 22,000 deserving children could not be vaccinated in the UC following the attacks on the WHO staff, the official said, adding that WHO associated doctors, field officers and workers were moving cautiously at the moment.

Replying to a question, the official said the WHO’s technical personnel were all willing to continue to support the governments at the centre and in Sindh in their efforts to control and eradicate polio.

A source in the provincial health department said key WHO officers had started operating from their residences instead of coming to the I&I depot. A health department meeting was scheduled for Thursday, the source said, adding that chairperson of the Polio Oversight Committee Dr Azra Pechuho was also holding a meeting next week in the city.