Measles outbreak: Jamaat’s 4 demands for urgent government action

Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has expressed deep concern over the unusually high number of people infected and dying due to the ongoing measles outbreak in the country. At the same time, the party has urged the government to take immediate effective measures to deal with the situation. In a statement sent from the central propaganda office of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami on Tuesday (May 19), the party’s Secretary General and former MP Mia Golam Parwar made this call.
In the statement, Mia Golam Parwar said that the measles infection in the country has suddenly taken a horrific form. Every day, people, especially children and marginalized groups, are getting infected and dying from this disease in different parts of the country. According to media reports, the number of suspected and confirmed measles deaths has already exceeded 450, which is very worrying and a matter of extreme concern for the public health system of an independent country.
He alleged that the situation has reached this stage today due to the lack of timely and appropriate preventive measures, stagnation of vaccination programs and inadequate medical services in rural and remote areas. Even at this moment of extreme public health crisis, the kind of urgent and coordinated steps that were needed to be taken by the administration are not being seen.
A kind of indifference is being observed in identifying the source of the disease spread, ensuring isolation of the infected and providing prompt treatment. To protect the people of the country, especially children, from this dire situation, the Jamaat Secretary General has made four-point demands to the concerned ministries and the Health Department of the government. The demands are that a special emergency vaccination program should be immediately taken in every region of the country to ensure 100% measles vaccination.
Special medical teams should be formed in the affected areas and arrangements should be made to provide emergency medicines and nutritional support. Separate wards and adequate medical supplies should be ensured for measles patients in all government hospitals and upazila health complexes of the country. A massive campaign should be carried out to raise awareness among the general public about the disease.
The statement called on Jamaat-e-Islami leaders and workers at all levels and the general public to stand by the helpless people affected by measles in their respective areas and to cooperate as volunteers in the vaccination program. At the time, Mia Ghulam Parwar prayed for the forgiveness of the souls of those who died in this epidemic and expressed deep condolences to the bereaved families. At the same time, he wished the victims a speedy recovery.