DIR TOWN, Jan 24: At least 278 families in Upper Dir district recently refused to let their children be given anti-polio medicine, describing the drops as “un-Islamic” and characterising the campaign to vaccinate children against the disease as a conspiracy, health officials said.

It was alarming that Dir town, the district headquarters of Upper Dir, was among the places where parents stopped health workers from administering polio drops to children for “religious reasons”. Ten union councils were already excluded from the drive because of heavy snowfall there.

The health officials said that parents in Tarpatar, Dir town, Chukiatan, Ganori, Wari, Jabbar, Almas, Bibyawar and Nihagdara did not allow teams to vaccinate children against the crippling disease.

They said that 23 parents in Dir town, six in Chukiatan, 12 in Darora and two in Nihagdara refused to avail the facility. The officials said that because of the parents’ refusal, the drive had to be extended in the region for two days, covering 44 families.

Some cases of polio have been detected in recent months in the aforementioned areas.

During the drive, 94,240 children were given drops, a majority of them (72,898) of ages between 12 and 59 months.