DADU: A gang of armed men snatched away vaccines and other medical paraphernalia from a team of vaccinators in Wasayo Janwari village, 11 kilometres from Mehar town, on Wednesday, the third day of the 12-day province-wide anti-measles vaccination drive.

The medical superintendent of Mehar taluka hospital, Dr Imamuddin Khoso, told journalists that as soon as he reached the village to monitor the vaccination drive, the gang of armed men subjected him and his driver Fayaz to torture and then beat up the entire team. They robbed them of vaccines and other medical paraphernalia before making good their escape.

Dr Imamuddin, who is also taluka health officer, said that he had received threats to stop vaccination in the area. He said he had asked the deputy commissioner and the SSP of Dadu to immediately take action against the armed thugs.

SSP Tarique Razak Dharejo has formed a team led by SHO of Mehar police station Mohammad Murad to go after the criminals but no arrest had been made till the filing of this report.

Dr Abdul Majeed Baladai, a leader of the Pakistan Medical Association’s Dadu chapter, warned if the criminals involved in the attack on Dr Imamuddin and his team were not arrested and security was not provided to all teams working in remote areas they would suspend the vaccination work from Thursday.

District Health Officer Dr Javed Ahmed Dawachh said that security would be provided to all teams. He had approached the district administration and police and he had been assured that all criminals involved in the attack on the team would be arrested immediately, he said.

Sukkur

The anti-measles vaccination campaign continued uninterrupted in the district on Wednesday and the teams had by far administered the vaccine to 107,658 children out of a total target of 390,863 within two days, said DHO Dr Mehmood Qureshi.

He said in a handout all teams on union council level were performing their duties well and hoped the target would be achieved before the end of the campaign.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2014