Epidemic update: Five-year-old dies from measles

FAISALABAD: A five-year-old girl died from measles at the Allied Hospital here on Thursday. Measles death toll in the district has now reached 51 with 40 deaths reported from Allied Hospital and 11 from district headquarters hospital. Doctors said the girl, Rimsha Umar, a resident of Miani in Dijkot, had been brought to the hospital two days ago. She had been kept in the isolation ward. The girl’s parents said that she might have been saved if the health department had started the measles vaccination drive earlier. Her father, Umar Daraz, said, “Thousands of children in the district have lost their lives, but the government’s anti measles drive is still on paper.” He said the drive should have been started the day the very first case surfaced. EDO (Health) Abdur Rauf said the government sympathized with the affected families. He said the drive could not be started earlier due to non-availability of vaccine.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 21^st, 2013.