Nearly 200 officials given training in Landikotal Jirga Hall .
Organised in the Landikotal Jirga Hall, the training - conducted by Dr Wazir Akbar, a World Health Organization official - was imparted to around 200 officials of the two forces.
Dr Akbar spoke to the media after the training session and explained the step had been taken keeping in view the boycott of the campaign by polio workers, who are actually trained in vaccinating children.
According to Dr Akbar, 140,000 children in Khyber Agency will be vaccinated against polio in the scheduled drive.
Political tehsildar Daftar Khan maintained the training was arranged on an emergency basis, and security officials will be armed during the immunisation drive to ensure their protection.
Khan added he had directed the officials to remain alert during the drive to avert any untoward incident.
Meanwhile, the deadlock between the political administration and polio workers continues to persist and both sides have failed to reach a consensus on resuming work.
The polio campaign in Khyber Agency has been suffering setbacks since December 23 when nearly 400 volunteers refused to participate in the drive after Ghilaf Khan, the supervisor of a polio campaign, was gunned down in his office in Jamrud on December 21.
Following this, polio workers also refused to conduct a vaccination drive in Landikotal on January 2 citing security concerns.
A levies force hawaldar Ibrahim Khan Shinwari said security had intensified for the vaccination drive and increased numbers of security personnel have been deployed, especially in more troubled areas.
Earlier, increasing instances of workers refusing to participate in immunisation drives led health authorities to provide basic immunisation training to around 200 khasadar officials on December 27.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 6th, 2014.
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if one magnify a poliovirus 10 times the resulting picture one see can not be distinguished from a taliban. lots of praises for the fellow soldiers how put up their lives and fights this virus both on microscopic and macroscopic scale.