I take responsibility for child deaths from measles: Health Minister

Health Minister Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain has taken responsibility for the deaths of children from measles. He said it was his failure, not that of his government. However, he was making efforts to address the situation.

The health minister made the remarks at an event organised at Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute on Monday afternoon. He was the chief guest at the event, held to inaugurate the institution’s newly constructed four-storey steel building.

Towards the end of the event, a journalist asked the health minister, “A total of 1,200 children have died of measles in seven months. Who is responsible for these deaths? The interim government or the incumbent government? Someone has to take responsibility.”

In response, Sardar Md Sakhawat Husain said, “I am responsible. Hang me. This is my failure. But I have made efforts. It is not a failure of my government.”

Speaking about measles vaccines, the health minister said some malicious people were claiming that the vaccines had been brought from India. This was not true. Only 8 per cent of the vaccines had been imported from India. The remaining vaccines had been brought from Germany, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea and Indonesia. The vaccines had been procured at a low price.

The health minister further said the vaccines being used in the country had been tested and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). UNICEF had supplied the vaccines. UNICEF, Gavi and the WHO are recognised organisations for supplying vaccines worldwide.

He also said if children had died of measles after the government procured vaccines from a private organisation other than UNICEF, the people of the country would not have spared him.

Alleging that many people had not vaccinated their children against measles or were still not doing so, the health minister said almost none of the children currently infected with measles had been vaccinated. A large proportion of them were under six months of age.

He said he had been informed that almost none of the measles patients admitted to a particular hospital had been vaccinated.

Professor AKM Azizul Haque, president of the governing board of Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute, presided over the event.