DADU: Emergency medical camps have been set up in many villages along Manchhar Lake embankments to vaccinate children against measles and certain other diseases amid fear of an outbreak.

It was officially confirmed on Monday that 15 children had died so far this year and many others were suffering from measles in these villages.

Five of the deaths from suspected measles were reported on Feb 20 in Khan Mohammad Mallah village after 10 children had died in Madani Mallah village of Shah Hassan union council and some other nearby villages last month.

Teams of doctors and paramedics from district health offices of Jamshoro and Dadu rushed to the area and set up camps in several affected villages. As many as 250 children were vaccinated in two villages and many more in some nearby areas within a day to control the disease.

The overall vaccination activity is being supervised by a team comprising World Health Organisation representative Dr Qadir Bakhsh Abbasi, Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) official Dr Aziz Chandio and Dadu District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Abdul Hameed Shaikh who are encamped in Khan Mohammad Mallah village. In addition to the vaccination of ailing children, 21 of the 60 refusal cases were covered in the area, they said.

The team led by Jamshoro DHO Dr Vinod Kumar established camps in Maula Bakhsh Mallah, Haji Urs, Girkino, Shrifuddin Mallah and Adhi Shaikh villages.

Meanwhile, Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Sindh project director Dr Irshad Ali Memon on Monday expressed his dismay over the situation after he came to know that the five children who died on Feb 20 and another six ailing ones had not been vaccinated against measles and other diseases under the EPI. Show-cause notices should be issued to those, including the DHO concerned, responsible for the lapse leading to the situation in these villages, he remarked.

Director General of Health, Sindh, Dr Mohammad Jumman Bahuto has said that the mop up activity in all villages along Manchhar Lake would continue until full coverage was achieved.

According to Health Secretary Syed Zulifiqar Ali Shah, necessary directives in this regard had been issued to all senior officials concerned.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2022