ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health chief Dr. Faisal Sultan said on Wednesday the government would solve the “tough problem” of vaccinating its more than three million stateless people living in different parts of the country.
In a story published in Arab News on Tuesday, several refugees in Pakistan described being unable to get citizenship despite decades of living in the country. Now they fear being left out of a national vaccination drive as registering for a free government-run immunization drive requires that citizens send a 16-digit computerized national identity card number to a 1166 number.
“Slightly tough problem but will be solved,” Dr. Faisal Sultan, who advises Prime Minister Imran Khan on public health, told Arab News.
According to Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “everyone has the right to a nationality.” Nevertheless, statelessness remains a reality across the world.
While the exact numbers are not known, Pakistan’s leading association of doctors recently wrote a letter to the government about the plight of stateless people in Pakistan, saying they were no fewer than three million in number.
In September 2018, Prime Minister Imran Khan pledged citizenship for Bengali and Afghan refugees, a decision widely hailed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees agency, civil society groups and human rights organizations. However, that promise is yet to be fulfilled.
Pakistan’s Ministry of National Health Services and Regulations says “every person currently in Pakistan” would get the COVID-19 vaccine by waiting for the immunization process to begin for people in their respective age brackets.
Rana Muhammad Safdar, director-general health at the ministry, told Arab News refugees or any other persons in Pakistan would have to prove their identity to be eligible to get a vaccine.
“This can be done using any document from the UNHCR or any other organization that proves their identity as non-Pakistani residents of the country,” he said in an interview on Tuesday.
Safdar, however, declined to comment when asked how individuals could register themselves through the official helpline when it only recognized 16-digit computerized national identity card numbers issued to Pakistani citizens, or why some people were being turned away even when they directly approached vaccination centers with relevant documents.
