Qaim vows action against negligent staff

Karachi

The chief minister has promised prompt action against “negligent” health officials and doctors, whom he held responsible for the recent outbreak of measles in Sindh that has claimed the lives of many children.

At a meeting held at the Chief Minister’s House on Wednesday to discuss the crisis, Qaim Ali Shah ordered prompt measures to curb the epidemic.

Provincial Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed informed the participants of the meeting that he had taken action against the irresponsible officers of his department.

10 days

The chief minister directed the officers of the health department to ensure the vaccination and treatment of the measles-affected children within 10 days (January 12) and leave no child unattended.

He ordered that every employee of the health department should be out in the field and properly monitor the situation.

He warned that the performance of district health officers and vaccinators would be checked and action taken against careless and lethargic doctors and other employees.

Efforts

The participants of the meeting were informed that samples from the children who had died in the epidemic had been sent to a laboratory in Islamabad and the results would help determine if the deaths occurred due to measles or some other disease such as pneumonia, diarrhoea etc.

It was pointed out that the health department had launched a crash programme to curb the spread of measles in the affected and high-risk areas.

A follow-up campaign had been started in eight districts of the province to vaccinate three million children between the ages of nine months

and 10 years.

The health minister, secretary, DG and other officers of the department were personally monitoring the campaign, while a health awareness programme had been activated in the affected districts.

A provincial control room had been set up at the health DG’s office so that the campaign activities could be monitored. Control rooms had also been established at the district level.

It was noted that 105,813 children had been vaccinated for measles on December 31 and 212,726 on January 1. In two days, 318,539 children were vaccinated.

Complications

The participants of the meeting were told that measles was not a fatal disease, but children died of post-measles complications including pneumonia, diarrhoea, and poor nutritional status.

It was also observed that due to “non-technical” and “non-professional” health managers at the district level and poor vaccine cold chain management, the disease was rapidly spreading. As per a report of the World Health Organisation, there were 7,274 cases of measles in Sindh during the year 2012 and 210 deaths had occurred.

During the month of December 2012, there were 1,879 cases of measles reported and the death toll stood at 93.

There were 1,650 cases reported in the year 2011 and the total deaths were 28.

According to the details provided by the health department, 2,125 cases of measles and 100 deaths due to the disease were reported in the province in December 2012.

Health Secretary Aftab Ahmed Khatri and Health DG Dr Feroz Memon in a detailed report maintained that cases of measles were reported all over Sindh throughout the year, but they increased in December 2012, particularly in the districts of Ghotki, Jacobabad, Sukkur, Kashmore, Khairpur, Larkana, Shikarpur and Kambar.

PPHI

MNA Dr Azra Pechuho pointed out at the meeting that the role of the People’s Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) must be revised as it controlled the majority of basic health units.

She was of the opinion that difference of assignments should be sorted out and a new memorandum of understanding signed.

One of the participants of the meeting told The News that the PPHI had not owned the measles campaign or the vaccinators. Therefore, it was proposed that a separate meeting should be held to discuss the issue.

Posted in: Karachi News