A woman and four of her children have died in the last nine days in Adda Boondi near Rahim Yar Khan and six of her remaining children are gravely ill, but the children’s father has refused to send them to the hospital for treatment.
District Health Officer Dr Hassan Khan told The Express Tribune that the Health Department had sent a team to visit the family when the first girl passed away nine days ago. Khaleel, the head of the gypsy family, had initially refused to allow the team to obtain blood samples from his family members. When the team threatened to call police, he gave in. The samples were sent to the National Institute of Health for testing three days ago, Dr Khan said.
Khaleel said they had moved to the area 12 days ago when his wife and children fell ill and they had used home remedies to cure the illness.
His wife and four of his daughters had passed away in the last nine days, Khaleel said. He said, “We do not take injections or vaccinations. If our forefathers lived without them so can we.”
Khaleel did not let the Health Department team to take his sick children to the hospital.
The team has been visiting the family everyday to checkup on the children, said Dr Khan.
The DHO said the children probably suffered from measles.
“We will be able to ascertain the nature of the contagion once the results from the NIH laboratory are in,” he said.
DHO Dr Khan, CDC officer Abdus Salaam, polio eradication officer Dr Niazi and SMO Dr Anwaarul Haq had also held an awareness session for gypsies in the area regarding polio and measles, a week ago.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2013.