Drive suspended in Mansehra

PESHAWAR:

Back to back attacks on polio teams in Bajaur Agency and Mansehra have resulted in the suspension of the essential drive in the latter.

In Khar, Bajaur Agency on Wednesday, unidentified assailants shot dead one member of a polio team, injuring another.

On Tuesday, lady health workers Kaneez and Sitara and a police constable were killed near an Afghan refugee camp on the outskirts of Mansehra city. The polio team was inoculating children in the refugee camp and surrounding areas when two gunmen opened fire, DPO Ejaz Khan had told The Express Tribune. Later the same day, the K-P government announced Rs1 million each for the two polio workers slain in Mansehra as compensation.

The ongoing National Immunisation Drive (NID) has been suspended in Mansehra on orders of the K-P government; the NID vaccinates children not only against polio but also eight other preventable diseases.

According to officials at the polio control room in Peshawar, the campaign was initially only temporarily halted in Mansehra following the attack. However, later authorities decided to suspend it.

“Officials, after consulting authorities in the provincial capital, decided to suspend the campaign,” a Peshawar health official said.

However, Bajaur Agency’s political administration decided to keep the immunisation drive going with enhanced security for polio teams. Bajaur Agency’s political agent could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 19^th, 2015.