KARACHI: Despite spending billions of rupees on the world’s largest measles and rubella vaccination campaign in Sindh in November last year, dozens of children have died due to measles, while hundreds of cases of the highly contagious vaccine-preventable disease have been reported in Sindh since January 1, The News has learnt.
“Daily dozens of measles cases are being reported at various public and private hospitals throughout Sindh, and the disease has so far claimed the lives of over 60-70 children across the province in the last two months alone,” a senior paediatrician associated with the Pakistan Paediatric Association (PPA) said. Citing data from different public and private hospitals and clinics being run by paediatricians, the PPA office-bearer, who requested anonymity, claimed that so far at least 2,500 cases of measles have been reported. However, the paediatrician pointed out, these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, as most cases and the resultant deaths are not being reported by parents and healthcare professionals.
Sindh’s health authorities had claimed to achieve a staggering 103 per cent of the target of vaccination during the 15-day measles and rubella drive launched on November 15. They had claimed to vaccinate 18,905,567 children between the ages of nine months and 15 years against the target of 18,364,204 children in the province, despite a strike by vaccinators.
The data received from the Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad indicates that around 125 measles cases were reported at their OPD in January and February this year, with two of the children dying during treatment due to complications resulting from the disease. Similarly, the data collected from 10 leading public health facilities in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sehwan, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Larkana and Sukkur indicates that over 2,500 cases of measles had been reported in these areas, while several private health facilities in these cities also confirmed seeing cases of measles. “As per our reports, over 30 deaths have occurred in Dadu alone, while over 60-70 children have lost their lives in Sindh due to complications resulting from measles in the first two months of this year alone,” said the PPA office-bearer. “But this is a conservative estimate, as the actual figures are not being provided, while concocted data is being presented to the provincial authorities and international donor agencies.”
The office-bearer claimed that vaccinating 103 per cent of children in 15 days is not possible even after imposing a curfew in cities and going door to door to administer the injectable vaccine to children, saying that the data is extremely misleading, which is evident from the measles outbreak in the province. “As per our information, most of the children at schools were not vaccinated because their parents had not consented to it. No awareness campaign was launched prior to the vaccination drive, due to which most of the parents and school administrations did not cooperate with vaccinators.”
Referring to the vaccinators’ strike, the PPA office-bearer said Expanded Programme on Immunisation and Sindh Health Department officials claimed to have employed lady health workers, paramedics and nurses for the vaccination campaign, but no such mobilisation of healthcare workers was witnessed in major cities and rural areas. “Without the participation of trained and experienced vaccinators, who have vast experience of convincing parents by going door to door and to fixed sites to get their children vaccinated, achieving the target set by the health authorities themselves is impossible.”
Another senior vaccinator leader Ahmed Brohi said that as most of the vaccinators were protesting for their better working conditions when the measles campaign was launched, inexperienced health workers and nursing students were hired, and they submitted fake data to the departments. “District health officers submitted concocted data because every one of them plundered funds worth millions of rupees. As a majority of the children were not vaccinated, the entire Sindh is facing a measles outbreak at the moment.”
Several other vaccinators have claimed that precious measles and rubella vaccines were wasted and dumped by nursing students and their supervisors to show they were fully used during the campaign. They said that though they had pointed this out to the health department, no heed was paid to it. “Fake vaccination cards were prepared by the staff hired for vaccination, especially in Jacobabad, Kashmore and Kandhkot, as well as in Dadu, Meher, Sehwan, Larkana and the adjoining districts,” claimed the vaccinator leader.
Confirming a measles outbreak in Sindh, federal and provincial immunisation authorities said that 99 measles cases had been reported from 16 union councils of 11 districts of the province. They said that 16 children had died since the measles and rubella campaign. “Of the 16 deaths, nine children have died in Dadu, followed by three in Jacobabad, two in Shaheed Benazirabad and one each in Matiari and Kashmore districts,” a health department official said in a written statement.
The official denied that the number of measles cases was in the hundreds or that the number of deaths due to the disease was in the dozens, claiming that some disgruntled elements had been misleading the media and the people.