A polio vaccination team came under attack by unidentified assailants on Tuesday in Heerabad Qureshi area of Hyderabad.
The attack came after a reported disagreement after which the vaccination campaign has been suspended in the area. The team did not have a police escort with them.
According to police officials, the incident was caused by male members of a family who began arguing with a polio team that had administered vaccination drops to eligible children. Polio officials Naveed, Kainat and Jannat claimed that they had the family’s permission to administer the vaccine but were assaulted by the male members as they did not want their children to take the drops.
Following the incident, police arrived on scene but the attackers had left. The police, however, detained two people, reported to be brothers of the attackers, and are investigating the case after lodging a report on the complaint of the polio team.
The Emergency Operation Centre for Polio launched an anti-polio campaign on Monday until Friday in 21 districts and towns of Sindh.
These districts include Karachi, Dadu, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Kambar, Kashmore, Larkana, Shikarpur, Sukkur, Badin, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Matiari, Naushero Feroz, Sanghar, Sujawal, Thatta and Jamshoro.
Five cases of the crippling disease were registered so far this year. Polio cases have been on a decline in the country with 54 and 20 cases reported in the years 2015 and 2016 respectively, as opposed to 306 cases in 2014.