MULTAN, Jan 7: The executive district officer for health has suspended four officials from service for not informing the department higher-ups about illness of children in a tent village of gypsies in Zakariya Town.

Seven of these children died due to pneumonia, cold and hunger in the last two months.

Dr Islam Zaffar said that he had suspended Nawabpur Basic Health Unit zonal superviser Qari Aslam, vaccination superintendent Shaukat Hussain, Taraf Mubbarak union council vaccinator Abdul Jabbar and Darrana Langan union council vaccinator Ghazanfar Abbas as they did not inform the higher-ups about the deaths despite their visit to the area during the vaccination campaign.

He said all the children had died because of cold, insufficient food intake and pneumonia.

The department, he said, had set up a medical camp in the locality to provide food and warm clothing to the patients in addition to medicines.

He said that six children, who had been shifted to the Children's Hospital owing to their critical condition, had been discharged after treatment.

Denying any kind of outbreak in the area, the executive district officer said that negligence of parents was the main cause behind seven deaths reported from the area as they did not pay attention to get their children timely treated.

He said that the health department had provided treatment to over 500 residents of 91 huts and shanties as well as people living in adjoining areas.

However, the gypsies claimed that all the children had died during the past three weeks.

They said that their children were never vaccinated against epidemics and they died of measles.