No vaccination behind increasing measles cases in Uruzgan

TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): Health officials in central Uruzgan province on Wednesday said measles cases among children in the province had increased in absence of vaccination.

Dr. Abdul Ghafar Watanwal, head of Uruzgan Provincial Hospital, in an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News said that 70 percent of children who were brought to the hospital were infected with measles.

He said 491 children with measles were admitted to the hospital and three of whom died in the last three months.

He said that despite emergency treatment of these patients in the hospital, some of them lost their lives as they reached the hospital late.

Watanwal blamed the seasonal diseases in children on not getting required vaccination regularly.

Measles vaccination campaigns have been launched in other parts of the country but not in Uruzgan, he said.

He asked the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch a measles vaccination campaign in the province to prevent the disease.

Families of children infected with measles at Uruzgan Provincial Hospital say the virus has infected children in many areas of the province with serious effects.

Gulali, a resident of Tirinkot, the provincial capital, has brought her six-year-old child with measles to the provincial hospital for treatment.

She said that she did not know that her son had contracted measles at first, but when his condition worsened, then she took him to the hospital where doctors told her that the child is infected with measles.

She said doctors at the provincial hospital had told her to take the child to Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar for better treatment, as his condition was critical and there was no possibility of treatment in Uruzgan.

Gulali said that her son was not alone who had contracted the disease, but many children in their area had contracted measles.

She asked health officials to launch a measles vaccination campaign in the province to prevent the spread of the disease.

Uruzgan Provincial Hospital is the only 100-bed hospital in which patients from districts and Tirinkot city are admitted for treatment.

Uruzgan Governor Haji Dawat, during a visit to the hospital a few days ago, asked provincial public health officials to take necessary steps to solve health problems in the province’s health centers.

mds/ma