SHANGLA: Measles killed two children in Dedal Kamach area of Martung tehsil here on Monday, a local health department official said.

Dr Mohammad Hussain, district coordinator of Expanded Programme on Immunisation, Shangla, said that the department had dispatched teams to the affected area for vaccination against the deadly disease.

He told this scribe that the department was doing its best to control the measles as EPI teams were actively vaccinating children in the area.

Meanwhile, Dr Ibadullah Khan, a local doctor, while confirming the deaths of two children, Mirza Ali, 4, and Mustashbira, 2, told Dawn that children in almost every house in the area were suffering from measles.

He said measles cases were being reported from parts of Dedal Kamach and its suburbs, which is a remote and backward area of Puran tehsil.

He appealed to the health department to engage health teams in the area to stem the spread of measles outbreak and save lives.

Meanwhile, the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has closed down its office in Martung tehsil over unknown reasons.

Local residents told reporters on Monday that the Nadra had closed its office set up in 2022 and inaugurated by PML-N leader Ibadullah Khan.

Kamran Ali, a local resident, said that the Nadra office was closed down without informing the local people.

He said that with the closure of Nadra office, people, especially elderly and women, would now have to go to Nadra offices located in other tehsils at huge expense.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2023