Measles update: Army steps up vaccinations as death toll rises

Two more children died due to the disease on Monday

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD/ KARACHI: As the Pakistan Army announced that it had vaccinated 20,000 against measles across the province so far, another two children reportedly died due to the viral disease in Hyderabad and Shaheed Benazirabad districts on Monday.

Five-year-old Benazir Bhand, a resident of Hala Naka Town, died in the isolation ward of Civil Hospital, Hyderabad, said Dr Rasheed Akhtar Memon. She was the seventh child to have died in the hospital’s isolation ward since January 1. Four-year-old Zulekha Bux reportedly died of the viral disease in Rahim Bux village in Shaheed Benazirabad district.



The army’s public relations wing, the ISPR, said in a statement that medical teams, equipped with all the necessary medicines and equipment, had established free medical camps in the worst affected villages in Jacobabad, Hyderabad and Badin districts over a month ago. They were administering vaccines to children, and also treating them and adults for other diseases. Over 12,000 residents have been given medicines for free to around 12,000 residents, claimed the ISPR statement.

JSQM condemns govt response

Members of the Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) organised a rally in Mirpur Mathelo to protest the alleged negligence of health department officials in handling the measles outbreak. Over 200 children have died due to the disease so far in the province, though the death toll cannot be independently confirmed.



JSQM activists, led by Ramzan Kalwar and Yousuf Bozdar, claimed that more lives could have been saved if health department officials had taken immediate steps to address the situation. They also claimed that children admitted in hospitals were not being provided adequate treatment, and that there were some areas where children had not been vaccinated against the disease at all.

They demanded that the government take action against negligent health officials, and immediately send vaccination teams to remote areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29^th, 2013.