HYDERABAD: Three men of two families were detained by police on the directives of an assistant commissioner for their refusal to have polio drops administered to their children and misbehaving with vaccinators during the catch-up campaign being carried out in the area to cover the ‘missed children’.

Two teams of polio workers were embroiled in an unpleasant situation in the limits of Hali Road and A-section police stations of Latifabad taluka. Zahid was taken into custody from Waheed Square while Shoaib and Ashraf from the same family were arrested from Iqbal Colony Unit-12, Latifabad, respectively by Hali Road and A-section police.

According to Latifabad Assistant Commissioner Faraz Siddiqui, union committee medical officer (UCMO) Dr Imam Bux was manhandled by Shoaib and Ashraf when he insisted for administration of polio drops in the presence of area incharge and other polio workers. Both were taken into custody and detained at A-section police station of Latifabad for misbehaving and manhandling the UCMO. Siddiqui confirmed that Zahid misbehaved with polio team workers in Hali Road police station’s area and he was also detained.

According to A-section police station SHO Latif­abad Mujtaba Shaikh, Sho­aib and Ashraf told police that polio team workers were insisting for administration of polio drops while they had been going through a trauma after death of their paternal mother. They said they were willing to get children in their family inoculated.

The assistant commissioner said that in both the cases attitude of those people remained quite unfrie­ndly towards polio workers and despite requests, they did not improve their behaviour rather they got physically involved with one of the team’s members.

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2019