RAWALPINDI - Two more children died of measles at different hospital in Lahore on Tuesday, taking the death toll to 79 in the provincial capital. So far 139 kids have lost to measles in the province.
Momina, eight months, breathed her last at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital while Arman, eight months, died at Children’s Hospital.
As many as 79 more measles patients were admitted to different hospitals in Lahore. Additional Director General Health (Vector Born Diseases) said that so far 15,762 measles cases have been reported from across the province including 4,845 from Lahore.
After having wreaked havoc in Sindh, the measles monster has been on a killing spree in Punjab and the most populous and ‘developed’ province has been deprived of more than ten dozen lives since onslaught.
In January, a PPP lawmaker minister admitted in the Senate that ‘poor handling’ caused measles outbreak which killed 232 children in 11 districts of Sindh. He praised the governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for ‘better management’ of the epidemic, though now one wonders on what grounds.
Lahore and its suburbs, where the government ‘successfully’ concluded a nine-day vaccination campaign on May 9, are the worst-hit areas in the province.
The government plans to launch a drive similar campaign in rest of the province this month.
Instead of taking the bull by the horns, the caretakers have opted for LIP SERVICE and for passing the buck to the upcoming next elected government. They have come up with a lame excuse that they are only supposed to take care of the routine affairs in during the interim period. Unfortunately, no leader talked about any plan to fight off even mentioned measles during electioneering, showing that such matters of utmost and immediate concern were are not on their to-do list.
Hearing a petition on May 21 for punishing demanding punishment to ‘irresponsible’ officials, the court on May 21 summoned a detailed report about government steps after it heard that “parents brought infected children to hospital”. The court also warned against administering spurious anti-measles vaccine to children, observing that the guilty would be jailed regardless of their status. Thanks to the medicine mafia, now ‘shortage’ of vital anti-measles drugs is rankling the victims. The authorities should have tight sleep tight after the ‘tiresome job’ they did have done to counter the menace.