Vaccination scam foiled in Nangarhar

JALALABAD (PAN officials in eastern Nangarhar province said that they have arrested a 13-member female group that was busy carrying out vaccination against hepatitis in Jalalabad city, the capital of the province.

Director of Public Health Department Dr Baaz Mohammad Sherzad, while addressing a news conference, said that a female cook of a Bangladeshi institute in the area was leading the group.

They were informed by locals two weeks ago that several female vaccinators were providing the anti-hepatitis drops to women and children door to door, Sherzad told, adding that policemen from 4^th police district and health officials visited the area and arrested two ladies with medicines.

One of the arrested women told them that she had hired 12 ladies, on a daily wage of 300 Pakistani rupees, and they charged each individual 10 rupees for the vaccination, he said.

The director further told that all three arrested women were released on personal surety by the police district, after laboratory tests showed the medicines recovered were in fact soft drinks.

These kinds of fraud campaigns damaged official drive of the department, Sherzad said and asked people to not allow vaccinators until the campaign is announced in the media or they are given free of cost.

When the provincial police headquarters was contacted to check the reasons for the release of the group, Col. Ebadullah Talwar, an official of provincial police headquarters refused to provide information on the ground that provincial police chief Brig. Gen. Abdullah Khazem Stanikzai would comment to the media 

But the media were not allowed by security officials to visit the police chief, besides the fact that he was in his office.

According to Dr Abdul Qahar Lodin, member of the provincial council, the group had made a mockery of locals and they should be punished.

Deputy head of the council Mufti Moeen Shah Haqqani said that if the court and security agencies did not pursue the matter, they would raise the issue at a higher level. 

mas/vp