THE outbreak of measles has created a national emergency-like situation. If this had happened in some developed country, an emergency would have been declared. But we are living in a country where the … rulers are like ice which has not melted even after the death of over 100 children … The lives of children in Sukkur, Ghotki, Shikarpur, Kashmore, Jacobabad and Badin are under threat. …Taluka Saleh Pat of Sukkur district is the worst affected … where some medical teams were also seen. …[H]undreds of children in this area are infected with measles. …But the health department has not rung the warning bells. An emergency cell has been set up in Saleh Pat, where shortage of medicines and other facilities have been reported. The health secretary’s visit to the Saleh Pat area was seen as [more of] an obligation. The seriousness … required to control and treat this disease was not witnessed at any stage.

Our country is a strange one; here the anti polio campaign has fallen victim to terrorism. What a bad example we have created. Should we not call it a country living in the Stone Age? Today there are latest methods and technologies to diagnose and treat [measles]. But we are unable to control it. We have many experts to play with the mental and physical health of the common man, but not to treat diseases. … To control measles do we need the help of some superpower or wait for a revolution? It seems that the health department is waiting for some miracle to happen. } —(Dec 30)

Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi.