Strict measures must be taken to protect the polio workers.
KARACHI: I would like to draw your attention towards the fact that killing of polio workers has been on the rise for the past two years. Some of us know Gulnaz Nighat, who is a health official in charge of the anti-polio campaign in Karachi. Gulnaz vividly remembers the day her sister-in-law Fehmida and niece Madiha, both health volunteers, were shot by miscreants. In December last year, two men on a bike came looking for them, along with a four-year-old child whom they said had to be vaccinated.
They asked the Imam of the mosque for the polio workers in the area. The Imam pointed towards Fehmida and Madiha who were administering oral polio drops to children at a house nearby. Ten minutes later, two shots were fired. Madiha fell down on the ground as Fehmida ran inside a house. The two men chased her inside and shot her dead as well before escaping.
Apart from this grisly incident, many polio workers have been kidnapped. Hostile elements must realise that these workers are carrying out welfare work. Strict measures must be taken to protect the polio workers.
Mehak Zehra
Published in The Express Tribune, April 5th, 2014.
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