PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Paediatrics Association (PPA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, is concerned over the outbreak of measles due to what it calls pathetically low coverage of routine immunisation in the province.

A meeting of the PPA’s executive committee held at the Khyber Teaching Hospital on Saturday noted that hundreds of children hit by measles had been hospitalised in the last few months, with some of them having died, according to a press release issued here on Saturday. They noted that the reason for high prevalence of the disease was poor measles immunisation and that there was a need to strengthen the routine immunisation and initiate a catch-up campaign.

They also urged the health department to establish isolation units for measles and other infectious disease at the teaching and district headquarters hospitals. The PPA assured the government of its full cooperation in boosting immunisation coverage and offering quality medical care to children affected by measles.

The association’s executive committee also called for starting thalaessaemia prevention programme and bringing genuine reforms in the Child Protection Act to improve healthcare facilities in the province.

Meanwhile, sources in the health department confirmed the PPA’s claim of low vaccination against childhood diseases, including measles.

They said more attention and allocation of resources to polio vaccination had affected routine immunisation for other childhood ailments as the vaccinators remained busy with polio campaigns for most of the time.

The sources said the health department was weighing options to deploy separate vaccinators for polio programme and task the EPI workers with taking care of the routine immunisation. The PPA’s concern was genuine as paediatricians had been complaining of measles outbreak due to lack of immunisation. We are working with the doctors to cope with the situation, they added.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2016