Measles-like disease grips 3 villages
Shariq Majeed
Tribune News Service

Rajouri, July 16
Scores of children have reportedly caught up communicable disease, probably measles, in three villages of Mandi tehsil in Poonch district. Even as more than 50 children in Dhara, Fatehpur and Trichal villages of Mandi are reportedly showing symptoms of measles, locals alleged that the health authorities didn’t immunise the children and had swindled money and material under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme.

“The government spends crores of rupees under the NRHM for the immunisation of children but since the local health authorities didn’t do so, there has been outbreak of measles in our village and hundreds of children are suffering from the same,” Bag Hussain, sarpanch of Dhara village, told mediapersons.

Locals, who are up in arms against the Health Department, alleged that early this year 11-year-old Nazeem Akhter died of the same disease in Arai village.

“Female multi-purpose workers, Asha activists and Anganwadi workers who are supposed to get the children immunised for six diseases, didn’t do the same,” Hussain said.

Local Health Department sources said there had been outbreak of a disease but they refused to confirm whether the disease was measles or some other disease.

“The symptoms of the disease like rashes are also associated with scabies but it is difficult to say whether it is measles or some other disease. So far as allegations of the locals are concerned, it needs to be investigated. However, unhygienic condition in these villages may be responsible for the outbreak of the disease,” a local Health Department source said.

Block medical officer, Mandi, Dr GA Malik said: “It doesn’t seem that there is any outbreak of disease. However, just four-five cases have been reported with measles-like symptoms, rest of the cases are that of scabies.”

Director, Health Services, Jammu, Dr Jasbir Singh said they had rushed teams of specialists to these village.