- Measles affects 12,000 in province, kills 50 only in city
- Health Department’s immunization campaign fails to counter measles
- 41% of parents unaware of campaign, 26% children unavailable for vaccination: Report
With two more children falling victim to measles on Friday the death toll has crossed 50 in the metropolitan while the figures cross 80 across the province due to the deadly epidemic, Pakistan Today has learnt.
What has now become a test of the nerves for the health officials, the epidemic has been severest since the outbreak of dengue in the previous years. To their credit the health officials have successfully broken the cycle of the dengue epidemic for the current year at least, while to everyone’s concern the measles deaths keep coming despite comprehensive measures taken by the authorities.
The Health Department carried out an immunisation campaign in the metropolitan in the first week of May spending millions of rupees and utilising thousands of its trained human resource. Around Rs 1.5 billion were spent on the exercise in which 1125 teams, each consisting of injectors, social mobilisers and assistants participated. Logistics including vaccine, syringes and safety boxes were also arranged while 850 injectors were provided by teaching hospitals to address staff shortage.
According to the 1998 census, the projected population of Punjab in 2013 is 9 million and children from 6 months to below 10 years of age are estimated to be about 2.65 million. The city is divided into 10 towns and 150 union councils. The campaign was designed to bring the effect of immunization to the grass root by assigning them various UCs, which were also being supervised by the union council medical officers. Besides, these teams also visited the public sector schools, while the directions were issued to private schools to ensure vaccination.
However, despite such a comprehensive plan carried out only a few weeks ago, the number of deaths is on the rise, while the total number of measles cases has crossed 12,000 in the province and still increasing.
A senior health expert who managed the campaign told the scribe on the condition of anonymity that the survey conducted on the efficacy of the measles campaign reports that 41 percent of parents did not know about the campaign, while 26 percent children were not at school or home at the day of vaccination.
The official said all steps are taken when the misfortune is at the door step and has done the ill. “Just like the authorities did not pay any heed to recommendations to preempt the outbreak of dengue, they treated measles the same way; the plans were formulated and steps taken when too much water had already passed under the bridge,” the official added.
To a question on the campaign, he said a comprehensive training program should be formulated for technical, non-technical staff of teams and supervisors should be planned, while the maps should also be revised for the measles campaign.
While the official reports estimate around 98 percent of targeted children covered during the epidemic, the number of cases appearing in the hospitals on a daily basis belies the official claim.
Health Department’s senior officials say that the deaths occur only among those children who are brought to a health facility really late.
Health Minister Saleema Hashmi however said the department is facing so many challenges at the same time and measles was just one of their top priorities. “There must be lags in the implementation because the challenge is so big; but the government is doing a lot to mitigate the crisis,” she added.