Three siblings who died in Ahmadpur East during the ongoing month have been confirmed as victims of measles.
According to a report issued by the Bahawalpur district health authority chief executive officer, the death of the three children from the same family in the Rajroho union council in Ahmadpur East had not been caused by any mysterious illness.
Medical reports indicated that the three children of Mahboob Ahmed, a resident of Rajroho, had been afflicted with measles.
Their parents had opted for home treatment of the children, but two of them passed away on August 3 and August 5.
On August 9, the parents admitted the third child to the Bahawal Victoria Hospital in a critical condition. This child, who remained ill with measles, passed away on August 17.
Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Jappa had taken notice of the incident, instructing health department officials to thoroughly investigate all aspects of the case and conduct medical examinations of all children in the area.
Following the instructions, health department teams examined over 150 children in the locality of the victims and administered vaccines and vitamin drops to them.
No risk of an outbreak of the disease was found during the exercise.
The relatives of the deceased children also acknowledged that the health department had conducted their vaccination.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Zaheer Anwar Jappa presided over a meeting to review the progress regarding vaccination of children across the district.
The official emphasised the importance of administering vaccine to children in a timely and correct manner.
He instructed relevant officers to monitor vaccination campaigns in the field to ensure that no child is missed during them.
The DC warned that legal action would be taken against any negligence or delay in vaccination efforts.
District Health Officer Dr Khalid Channar reported that teams were actively working in the field to vaccinate children across Bahawalpur. The individual performance of vaccinators and relevant health officials was reviewed during the meeting.
In another development, the Emergency Response Committee (ERC) for Dengue Control reviewed the measures implemented for dengue prevention.
The additional deputy commissioner emphasised the need to ensure the implementation of dengue prevention measures. She stressed the importance of raising public awareness about cleanliness, especially for cleaning rooftops. She called for improvement in android use in the activities to ensure proper execution of work in the field.
Regular surveillance for dengue larvae should be conducted and members of the indoor and outdoor teams formed for dengue control must work effectively in the field, she said.
She pointed out the necessity of ensuring coverage of hot spots in the district concerning the breeding of dengue larvae.
The additional deputy commissioner said members of the response committees established at the tehsil level should also work actively in the field. The meeting evaluated the performance of various departments in relation to dengue control.
District Focal Person Dr Qudsiya Anwar informed the participants that 5,611 suspected dengue cases had been reported across the district since January 1. She said 10 patients had traveled from other cities. During surveillance in the period till August 16, dengue larvae were found at 44 locations and measures taken to eliminate them.
The official reported the existence of 1,806 hot spots regarding dengue across the district. There are 412 indoor and 108 outdoor teams engaged in dengue control activities in the district.
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