Children’s health: ‘15 to 20 children with measles brought to Civil Hospital daily’

Some parents refuse to let children be vaccinated.

GUJRANWALA:

“Some 15 to 20 children suffering from measles are being brought to the Civil Hospital every day,” Dr Asif Javed said on Thursday. Talking to The Express Tribune, he said the hospital administration was sending the names and addresses of these children to the Health Department so that children in those areas could be administered the vaccine.

He said health officials had also been asked to create awareness among parents in those areas. He said most of the affected children were from Nowshera Road, Baghbanpura, Nowshera Saansi, Mughal Chowk, Dhalay, Girjakh, Rahwali, Cantonment and Defence Road.



He said some parents had refused to let their children be given vaccine over reservations regarding the efficacy of the vaccine. This, he said, was one reason why the disease had spread in the region.

Four teams set up in Hafizabad

Hafizabad District Coordination Officer Farah Masood has said that four special teams had been formed to administer anti-measles vaccine to children from six months to 10-years-old.



She said 10 cases had been reported in the district in December and January so far. She said District Health Officer Dr Tauqeer Nawaz was personally monitoring the vaccination drive. She said the situation in the region was under control.

She requested the parents to cooperate with the vaccination teams and take their children to the nearest health centre in case of measles symptoms, which include high fever, hacking cough, swelling of the eyelids, and red, watery eyes.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2013.