Polio worker martyred in Chaman

K-P CM takes notice of the incident, summons report from the province’s inspector general

The polio workers were targeted by unidentified motorcyclists. PHOTO: EXPRESS

QUETTA:
A female child health worker (CHW), working as part of a polio vaccination team, was martyred and another injured on Thursday in Balochistan’s Chaman area.

Assistant Commissioner Syed Sami Agha told reporters the polio workers were targeted at the immunisation team in Sultan Zai, a city near the shared border with Afghanistan, by unidentified motorcyclists who managed to escape from the scene of the incident.

He confirmed that one female polio worker was martyred, while another was injured in the attack. Agha added that both victims were shifted to District Headquarters Hospital.

The assistant commissioner informed that the area has been sealed, and the anti-polio campaign in the area suspended, with Levies forces conducting a search operation in the area. Authorities have suspended the campaign in all union councils (UCs) of Chaman in the wake of the terrorist attack.

Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan and the Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Polio Eradication Babar Atta condemned the attack.

Over 2.5 million children in the province were to be administered the anti-polio vaccine during the drive.

Atta said at least 260,000 health workers are involved in the campaign with some 150,000 police escorting the teams. However, Atta added that hundreds of thousands of children were likely to go unvaccinated.

“There is a serious lack of trust among the parents,” he said.


Vigilance advised

In the wake of the latest attack, security forces have asked polio teams to remain ‘vigilant’.

Several polio workers in the province and other parts of the country, particularly Khyber-Paktunkhwa (K-P) have been targeted and killed by militants.

The latest attack comes days after anti-polio panic spread across Peshawar and other parts of K-P following reports that dozens of students at a school in Peshawar's had been admitted to a hospital after being vaccinated.

In the resultant panic, a police officer deployed at a basic health unit in Bannu for the security of immunisation workers was gunned down by unknown assailants while on his way to work on April 23.

Earlier this month, a UC polio officer associated with the World Health Organisation was shot dead in Haleemzai tehsil in Mohmand tribal district.

Polio is endemic in only three countries in the world – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria – although a relatively rare strain was also detected in Papua New Guinea at the end of last year.

With additional input from agencies
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