Pakistan’s biggest coronavirus vaccination unit at Expo Centre was closed on Saturday after the facility’s data operators went on a strike.
The workers at the centre claim they haven’t been paid salaries for three months now. “We won’t end the strike until and unless we are paid,” one of them said.
More than 65 data operators work at the Expo Centre in one shift. A total of three shifts run at the facility. Following the strike, inoculation at the centre halted leading to difficulties for people.
Temporarily, the nursing staff is handling the data operations, according to the centre’s management”There was a delay in the payment of the workers’ salaries and we had informed them about it beforehand,” Sindh Parliamentary Health Secretary QasimSoomro told media.
The summary of the salaries have been approved by the finance department and the chief minister, he said, adding that the pays will be released by next week.
The vaccination centre at Karachi’s Expo has the capacity to carry out up to 30,000 vaccinations per day and stays open 24 hours. It has 12 registration counters with six blocks that contain 96 cubicles.
Each shift has an estimated 360 health workers to administer the Covid-19 vaccines.
