Drug addicts 'may claim to be health officials'

Abu Dhabi: Local authorities have warned residents against drug addicts pretending to be medical teams from government hospitals visiting them to administer anti-bird flu vaccines.

According to sources at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), their security office has issued an in-house memo alerting its staff members about individuals visiting residences to inject people with drugs they claim to be anti-bird flu vaccine. The memo, the sources added, warned that these people were in fact drug addicts visiting residences with the intention of theft.

"We received the memo from the security office of the hospital. This is a regular precautionary measure for hospital staff. We have similar regular memos on different issues ranging from [motor] speeding to outbreak of diseases. However, we are not aware of any such incident taking place," a source told Gulf News.

He also confirmed that no anti-bird flu vaccination campaign is being carried out by SKMC nor medical staff members have been asked to do such a job.

The Secretariat of the National Committee for Emergency Response to Bird Flu has also denied the government has launched such a campaign.

No such campaign

Majid Al Mansouri, the official spokesman of the committee and Secretary General of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, said neither the secretariat nor the government has launched an anti-bird flu vaccination campaign.

He said: "If there is any such move, people will be officially informed through media and other sources of information. My advice to the public is don't open your doors to any one claiming to be government medical staff for a campaign. People should be very careful."

A source at the Ministry of Interior advised residents to immediately call 999 to report if such persons knock on their doors.