QUETTA: A scheduled anti-polio campaign could not be launched in Quetta on Monday after vaccination volunteers refused to perform their duties saying their payments had been delayed.

Anti-polio vaccination drives were also postponed in six union councils of Balochistan’s Zhob district owing to security reasons, said an official of Balochistan Health Department who did not want to be named.

Polio volunteers who refused to administer drops claimed the provincial health department was using delaying tactics as far as their payments were concerned. The anti-polio drive was launched in eight districts of Pakistan’s insurgency-hit province—including Zhob, Killa Saifullah, Sherani and Lasbella among other areas.

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The health department, with support from international health organisations, had planned to administer polio drops to more than 400,000 children of less than five years of age in Quetta. “In total, 1.2 million children were to be administered polio drops in eight districts,” the health officer said.

So far in 2015, three polio cases have been reported from Balochistan's Loralai, Killa Abdullah and Quetta districts.

The provincial government has already declared emergency to eradicate the crippling disease from the province.

Strict security measures were adopted in seven districts where the anti-polio campaign was launched on Monday. Levies personnel and police officials guarded the volunteers during the immunisation campaign.

Security of polio teams has been tightened in the aftermath of attacks on anti-polio teams in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan. In November last year, gunmen killed four polio workers including three women in Quetta's Eastern Bypass area.

Pakistan’s fight against polio has in recent times been marred by militants who target vaccination teams, especially in the northern and tribal areas of the country, where terrorists have carved out hideouts for themselves.

As one of the three countries in the world where polio remains a threat to date, the WHO last year made it mandatory for all Pakistanis travelling abroad to have at least one dose of the anti-polio vaccine.

Last year was one of the country’s worst in terms of the number of polio cases, with the count reaching 306, marking the first time in almost 14 years that the number exceeded 200.