EPI technicians not paid salary for eight months.

BAJAUR -- Technicians of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) on Tuesday protested the non-payment of salary for eight months and warned that they would boycott work if dues weren't cleared immediately.

The protest was staged outside the district health officer's offices in the District Headquarters Hospital, Khar.

The protesters said 26 workers had been working as junior EPI technicians in Bajaur area for 16 years.

They said tribal districts had 174 workers, who were appointed under the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation in 2004, and that they're the backbone of the EPI and had always done their jobs wholeheartedly.

Threaten to boycott work

The protesters said they had not only contributed to the regular immunisation in the region but also played a significant role in the anti-polio campaigns and current fight against Covid-19.

Workers Mohammad Younas Khan, Ayaz Khan and others showed concern about unnecessary delay in payment of salary. They claimed that they were the regular workers of health department appointed under the government's 2002 policy. The...