QUETTA: Five children died of anti-measles injections Friday as the Balochistan government launched an anti-measles campaign across the province.

Five children ranging from two to nine years died in Balochistan's Killa Saifullah district in the past days.

However, Balochistan's Director General Health Dr Farooq Azam contradicted the parents' claim and termed diarrhoea as the underlying reason behind the deaths.

"The health condition of my kids deteriorated when health officials administered anti-measles injections to them," Juma Khan, the grandfather of one of the children, told DawnNews.

The claim was vehemently denied by health officials.

Read: Measles eradication campaign from Monday

A total of nine children belonging to one family, and hailing from the northern Killa Saifullah district, were brought to Civil Hospital Quetta for medical treatment.

Three of the unconscious children died on Thursday evening whereas two died on Friday morning, a doctor who was on duty in Civil Hospital told DawnNews.

"Our children were fine — their condition deteriorated after injections," Haji Niamatullah, father of another child who died in Civil Hospital, told DawnNews.

The Balochistan government had launched an anti measles campaign across the province from April 13 to April 25, and announced administering of anti-measles injections to more than half a million children across the province.

The health ministry announced that anti-measles injections have been administered to 400,000 children across the province until now.

Dr Farooq Azam and others reached Civil Hospital after reports surfaced in the media of five children's deaths.

"The condition of the remaining four children is also uncertain," Abdul Rehman Miakhail, Medical Superintendent of Civil Hospital Quetta, told DawnNews.