Police take steps to protect female polio workers

EOC official says certain ‘political elements’ are ‘scaring away’ health workers who have

not been appointed on their recommendations

Karachi

The city police has decided to identify and act against the “political elements” who are harassing newly-hired female polio vaccinators in some 41 ‘sensitive’ union councils (UCs) before the upcoming National Immunisation Days and take strict action against them to ensure maximum coverage during the vaccination drive.

The decision came after a complaint was lodged with the police on Tuesday by the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) for Polio in Sindh regarding certain “political elements”. It was stated in the complaint that certain people were harassing newly-hired female polio workers because the vaccinators had not been appointed on their “recommendations”.

The News learnt that certain political elements who used to recommend vaccinators for anti-polio drives in the city for a share of their stipends, had already managed to “scare away” between 60 and 70 new health workers, leading them to disappear ahead of the upcoming polio campaign in the city. The anti-polio officials, this time, had purposely ignored asking these elements to recommend health workers and carried out the recruitment themselves.

During a meeting with Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali and Additional IG Karachi Mushtaq Mahar on Tuesday to discuss the security concerns and arrangements for the upcoming National Immunisation Days (NIDs) between January 11 and 15, officials from the EOC Sindh requested the police for enhancing security and intelligence-based surveillance in the 41 UCs — eight ‘highly-sensitive’ and 33 ‘sensitive’ —— to ensure protection of polio workers so they may carry out vaccination with complete peace of mind.

The EOC delegation comprised Sindh Coordinator Dr Usman Chachar and Dr Ahmed Ali Shaikh, Unicef officials, while besides Sindh IGP and city police chief, zonal DIGs and district SSPs were also present at the meeting.

It was decided that the first vaccination drive of 2016 will be held in “one go” across the city, for which the Karachi police has sought the services of around 8,000 personnel for protection of the vaccinators.

The News learnt that the city police chief Mushtaq Mahar took the complaint filed by EOC officials very seriously and immediately issued directions for identifying the elements involved in “harassing” vaccinators so action against them could be taken before the NIDs campaign began.

It was decided on the occasion that “invisible” security will be provided to vaccinators in the 41 sensitive UCs where patrolling police personnel would remain in touch with their superiors officers, while Sindh Rangers would also be consulted in case of any eventuality.

A police official told The News that Sindh IGP Ghulam Hyder Jamali directed all officers to remain on ground during the five-day polio vaccination campaign and also promised to request Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to exempt police officers from attending meetings during the NIDs so they could focus on providing security to vaccinators.

Under the security plan chalked out during the meeting, it was decided that all the six district SSPs of Karachi will stay in touch with Wing Commanders of Sindh Rangers in their respective areas, and in case they required additional support, the paramilitary personnel will stand ready to assist the police in ensuring protection and security of polio workers.

Karachi police chief Mushtaq Mahar told the officials of EOC Sindh that police personnel will carry out minute-by-minute surveillance of the entire campaign and vowed that no polio team will withdrawn or deployed elsewhere.  A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Friday to review and finalise the security arrangements.