MULTAN, Sept 19: District Nazim Riaz Hussain Qureshi has declared emergency in Basti Vaince where three children of a family died of measles in a day.

Taking note of the incident, the Nazim constituted a Special Medical Team (SMT) comprising District Health Officer Imtiaz Piracha, Dr Khwaja Masood and Dr Saeed Malik to launch a vaccination campaign in Basti Vaince against infectious diseases.

According to an official handout, the Nazim had ordered vaccination of each and every child of the village. He warned the district health department that stern action would be taken against the SMT if any of the children in Basti Vaince was left unvaccinated.

Labourer Riaz Hussain's children, Sahara (12), Khair Muhammad (8) and Sonia (6), died on Saturday after remaining ill for several days due to measles in Basti Vaince, situated on Khanewal Road on the outskirts of the city.

His three remaining children, Nishat (5), Sobia (4) and Hamid (2) had also caught measles and were shifted to Nishter Hospital in critical condition on Sunday on the orders of district Nazim.

Doctors at the hospital said the ailing children were not yet out of danger. The district Nazim said he had called a meeting of the health department in his office on Monday to fix responsibility for the tragedy.