On Wednesday, the Union Ministry of Health decided to send three high-level multi-disciplinary 3-member teams to Ranchi (Jharkhand), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), and Malappuram (Kerala) to assess the increase in Measles cases.
According to health ministry, the teams will assist state health authorities in implementing public health measures and facilitating the operationalization of necessary control and containment measures.
“The Central team to Ranchi comprises of experts drawn from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital (RMLH), New Delhi. Experts from PHO, Mumbai, Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital (KSCH), New Delhi and Regional Office of Health and Family Welfare (RoHFW), Ahmedabad will comprise the Central team to Ahmedabad and the team to Malappuram will consist of experts from RoHFW, Thiruvananthapuram, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry and Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), New Delhi,” said the health ministry.
Senior Regional Director, RoHFW, Jharkhand, Gujarat, and Kerala will coordinate visits with the respective teams.
The teams will also conduct field investigations to investigate the outbreak and assist the State Health Departments with public health measures, management guidelines, and protocols to manage the increasing Measles cases reported in the three cities.
Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that is associated with a high mortality rate in children under the age of 2.
“It looks like these children might have missed some immunization doses of measles vaccine during the covid pandemic. So, when the infection came in larger number of children were susceptible to the disease. We have reliable vaccine against measles and somebody is fully vaccinated it is unlikely that they will get infected. The most likely reason is that vaccination was not completed for such children,” said an official requesting anonymity.