Epidemic: Rafique orders steps to deal with measles

CM’s adviser told that 58 measles cases were reported in the Punjab this year

LAHORE: Adviser to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafiq ordered on Monday that focus be maintained on enhancing routine immunisation coverage for the eradication of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD).

The adviser chaired a meeting of Provincial Steering Committee on the EPI. “Mobile and migrant population should be vaccinated against measles,” he said.

He said that the Health Department should be alert following the measles outbreak in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The adviser was informed that this year more than 3,000 and 1,900 cases of measles had been reported in Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, respectively. He was informed that 58 measles cases had been reported in the Punjab.

The meeting agreed to give diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) vaccine to children between four and five years of age.

Rafiq said that Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lady Aitchison Hospital, Children Hospital and Mayo Hospital should be included in the list for surveillance of VPD. He said a letter will be written to the World Health Organisation for validation of maternal and newborn tetanus elimination.

EPI Director Munir Ahmad said the Health Department would cover rotavirus in routine immunisation by October to prevent children from diarrhoea. The Punjab would be the first province to introduce this vaccine in the EPI programme, he said.

Health Services Director General Mukhtar Hussain Syed, Children Hospital Medical Director Ahsan Waheed Rathore, Children Hospital Professor of Pediatrics Muhammad Haroon Ahmad, National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group Chairman Tariq Iqbal Bhutta and KEMU Prof of Pediatrics Akmal Laeeq attended the meeting.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2016.