Called to court: Officials to explain what they did to control measles outbreak

Petitioner claims that health facilities did not have anti-measles vaccines.

KARACHI: Taking notice of the measles outbreak that has claimed several lives in the province, the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday asked government officials to explain what steps they took to control the epidemic.

The court issued notices to the provincial chief secretary, finance secretary, advocate general and the director general and secretary of the health department. The bench, headed by Chief Justice Mushir Alam, was hearing a petition filed by Rana Faizul Hasan, a representative of the United Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Hasan claimed that around 210 children died due to measles in the province so far. Even though the Sindh government allocates billions of rupees for healthcare, it had failed to provide better healthcare facilities to the people, argued Hasan.

However, the petitioner alleged that money reserved for purchasing medicines for basic health centres and government hospitals, was being misused in the province. Public health facilities were out of anti-measles medications. He asked the court to direct the finance secretary to release funds so that the health department can procure anti-measles vaccines.



The petitioner also alleged that the health department had shut down basic health centres in Johi, Mehar, Khairpur, Nathan Shah and Dadu, among other areas, even though it knew that a measles outbreak had gripped the province.

Hasan also pleaded the court direct the health department to depute mobile health teams in areas affected by the outbreak. “The authorities failed to take immediate measures to control the epidemic,” said the petitioner. “They limited their role to issuing media statements.” The court then issued notices to the government officials, but decided to set the deadline for submission of replies later.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.