Dhaka. Measles outbreak is becoming serious in Bangladesh. So far, more than 1,200 people have lost their lives due to this infectious disease, a large number of which are innocent children. Amidst the continuously increasing deaths, Health Minister Sardar Mohammad Sakhawat Hussain took responsibility for this and said that he should be hanged. He called it his failure, although he also said that he had tried his best to deal with the situation.
According to Bangladeshi newspapers 'Kaler Kantho' and 'Bangladesh Pratidin', while talking to journalists, the Health Minister said, 'This is my responsibility. Hang me. This is my failure. But I have tried my best. This is not the failure of my government.
He also rejected the claims being made regarding the supply of vaccines from India. According to the minister, only 8 percent of the total vaccines have come from India. The remaining vaccines have been procured from Germany, Japan, Australia, Britain, South Korea and Indonesia. He said that these vaccines have been tested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and supplied by UNICEF. According to the minister, most of the infected children are under six months of age and had not been vaccinated against measles.
Former Yunus government accused of negligence in vaccination
On the other hand, the BNP government led by Prime Minister Tariq Rahman has blamed the administration of former interim government chief Mohammad Yunus for the current measles crisis.
According to 'The Daily Star', Minister of State for Health MA Muhit said that due to the negligence of the Yunus administration, the vaccination campaign could not be conducted on time at the national level. Apart from this, the stock of emergency vaccines had also been exhausted.
Muhit said that investigation has revealed that the national vaccination campaign proposed for the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025 was not organized by the then government. The Health Ministry did not even have sufficient stock of vaccines for emergencies.
He said that since 2020, a large-scale vaccination campaign could not be conducted in the country. The campaign was postponed indefinitely due to political unrest in the year 2024. A three-member commission has been formed to investigate this entire matter.
Measles havoc in statistics, more than 1,284 deaths
Two more probable deaths were recorded in the 24 hours ending November 9, according to data from the Directorate General of Health Services. With this, the total number of deaths related to measles has reached 1,284. Of these, 105 deaths have been confirmed in laboratory tests, while 1,179 deaths are in the suspicious category.
So far, more than 2.4 lakh suspected cases of measles have been reported in the country. Of these, 24,523 cases have been confirmed in laboratory tests. As the number of infections and deaths continues, the government has launched an emergency vaccination campaign in collaboration with international agencies. However, despite this the disease has not yet been effectively controlled.