According to the data of the Punjab Health Department, during the last seven days, 933 children were reported to have measles in the province, while at least five children have died.

Punjab Why is measles spreading and how to protect children from it

In this January 31, 2024 photo, parents attend a hospital in Lahore for treatment of their children (AFP)

In various cities of Punjab , there has been an extraordinary increase in measles among children and as a result of the death of many children during the last seven days, the Punjab Health Department has stepped up operations to deal with it.

According to the data of the Punjab Health Department, during the last seven days, 933 children were reported to have measles in the province, of which 119 children reached the hospitals from Jhang.

Similarly, 86 children were diagnosed with measles from Rawalpindi, 64 from Sheikhupura, 44 from Chiniot and 41 from Kasur, while 27 children were diagnosed in Lahore.

In rural areas of Khanewal and Patuki, reports of 10 children's deaths have also emerged in the last seven days, of which at least five deaths are said to be due to measles, while attempts are being made to find out the cause of death of the other five.

Punjab Health Department spokesperson Malik Maqbool Ahmad said that 'Investigation is going on regarding the deaths of five children in the neighboring village of Patuki. Their samples have been sent to the laboratory to confirm the cause of death. Initially, the death of these five children is feared to be due to heat wave.

On the other hand, CEO Health Khanewal Dr. Abdul Majeed Bhatti, District Health Officer (Preventive Services) Dr. Fazlur Rahman Bilal, DDHO, on the instructions of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, on the death of five children due to measles in Kohiwala Kabirwala, a village on the outskirts of Khanewal. Kabirwala Dr. Alam Sher has been suspended for neglecting duties.

A formal departmental inquiry has been conducted against these three officers and a report has been submitted.

In view of increasing cases of measles, heat wave counters have been set up in all government hospitals.

The spokesman of the health department told Independent Urdu that 'Measles is being diagnosed only in those children who have not been vaccinated. Every year, the government provides free immunization to children between the ages of nine months and 11 years, but most parents do not regularly administer immunization or polio shots to their children.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organization,

Pakistan has become one of the 10 countries most affected by the measles epidemic in the world, where more than seven thousand people fell victim to measles between July and December in the year 2023 alone. were

Measles symptoms and prevention methods

Professor Dr. Khalid Masood, head of the medical unit of Children's Hospital Lahore, told Independent Urdu that the symptoms of measles are red rashes on the body, fever, cough, cold and flu. Many times parents do not take their children to the hospital mistaking the rashes on the body for chicken pox. Similarly, in the case of fever or cough, they are not treated.'

He said that in our rural areas, children are usually tried to heal themselves through home remedies, which increases the disease like measles and then they are brought to the hospital, then saving the patient is also a lot. The bar becomes difficult.'

According to Dr. Khalid: "If the fever does not go down for three or four days, the cough does not stop, or if the rash from the body is growing instead of disappearing and the eyes are red, then the children should be brought to the hospital immediately."

At the same time, he said that 'the best way to avoid this is immunizations and children have to get the first one at the age of nine months and the second after three months, but many parents sometimes forget to get one injection and another. And many times they are not infected, so children can get measles at any age.'

According to Dr. Khalid Masood:

Measles germs are transferred from one patient to another. Even through coughing, these germs fall on an object or nearby children and as soon as the children touch their nose or mouth, these germs are transferred, so patients infected with measles should be kept apart from others.

In this regard, the spokesperson of the health department, Malik Maqbool Ahmed, says that the government's campaign to immunize children and give them polio drops continues continuously. Helpline numbers are also provided and counters are set up in every hospital where vaccinations can be administered easily and free of cost, but generally most parents in rural areas are not interested in vaccination or polio vaccination. , which makes it easy for children to attack diseases like measles.'