Govt efforts are underway to tackle measles situation: Secretary

Health Secretary M Quamruzzaman Chowdhury today (11 April) said the government’s efforts were underway to contain the measles crisis, which he attributed to the mishandling of the issue in the past four years.

“The current situation involving measles arose due to some interruption in the vaccination programme in the last four years. The government is working sincerely to deal with this situation,” he told a health-related seminar in the capital.

Particularly, he said, the mistakes of the previous government resulted in the spread of the infectious disease nationwide.

The top health ministry bureaucrat said if the vaccination campaign had been conducted properly in the recent past, the country could have evaded the current crisis, but now “we are conducting a nationwide vaccination programme for children aged between 6 and 59 months”.

He said the campaign would begin in the capital, southeastern port city of Chattogram, northern Mymensingh and southwestern Barishal from tomorrow, and a nationwide vaccination programme would be launched on April 20.

Chowdhury assured that there was no shortfall of measles vaccine, and in line with research and advisory team advice, all children aged between six and 59 months would be covered under the programme.

National Institute of Neuroscience and Hospital staged the seminar coinciding with World Parkinson’s Day, while under a separate programme, a discussion and a colourful procession were held at Suhrawardy Medical College to mark the day.