Health staff held hostage, threatened in West Singhbhum village

An auxiliary nurse midwife (ANM) and her husband were held hostage and threatened by irate locals during an immunisation drive in remote Popkanda village under Goilkera block of West Singhbhum district, officials said on Friday.

According to officials, the village residents mistook the couple as part of Covid-19 inoculation drive on Thursday. “The ANM Sunita Loba and her husband Laxman Singh Mundari went to Popkanda village for vaccinating children as part of the regular immunisation drive. However, the villagers mistook them as staff of Covid-19 inoculation drive and held them hostage for hours,” Sudhir Prakash, Goilkera block development officer (BDO), said.

This assumes significance in view of widespread confusion and reluctance over availing the Covid-19 vaccine among people in rural areas of the three districts of Kolhan division - West Singhbhum, East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan.

Following the incident, the ANM filed an application and forwarded the same to the district headquarters. “We will take action as per the guidelines by the DC. People should co-operate with medical staff on vaccination drive because it is for the benefit of us all. They should not misbehave with medical staff,” added Prakash.

In her application, the ANM alleged that she and her husband were held hostage by the villagers for three to four hours. “They threatened us of dire consequences and warned against coming to the village for vaccination. We somehow convinced them and managed to return to Goilkera safely by late Thursday evening,” Sunita said.

West Singhbhum DC Ananya Mittal and other senior district officials have been holding a series of meetings with traditional village heads, called Mankis and Mundas, for the past few days to raise awareness about the absolute necessity to get vaccinated against Covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, East Singhbhum DC Suraj Kumar issued order to all BDOs in the district to conduct awareness campaign and rope in people’s representatives, sevikas, sahayikas, self-help groups and sakhi mandals to convince villagers to come forward and get vaccinated.