By Ashis Biswas
KOLKATA: A shocking bureaucratic failure on part of the interim government led by Dr M Yunus has led to the present medical crisis in Bangladesh as an outbreak of measles continues to kill people, devastating both urban and rural areas.
This is not merely an opinion held by hardline leaders of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Such a damning, if unexpected, conclusion about Dr. Yunus’s, administrative blunder — one among many! — is strongly supported by evidence provided by UN-related officials to the preliminary fact finding probe ordered by the BNP.
Apparently, the interim government in Bangladesh never bothered to order basic vaccines and other critically needed medicines to fight off measles and other diseases, despite repeated medical warnings, messages and meetings!
Policymakers in Bangladesh have been shocked by sudden outbreak this year of the measles and the dengue fever among large numbers of people. The death toll since March has currently exceeded 550, according to some estimates. In particular, the human toll and extent of the measles outbreak has reached near epidemic levels, according to some reports. In contrast, the toll so far in dengue-related deaths, below 10, has been low.
The measles phenomenon, not unexpectedly, has attracted international concern, especially in parts of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam, three states in India sharing a long border with Bangladesh.
World Health Organisation (WHO) authorities are monitoring the situation, while keeping in touch with neighbouring countries like India. . With daily reports of 1000-plus fresh attacks still pouring in, Bangladesh officials admit that a crisis of this magnitude has not been seen since 2005. The majority of the measles attacks affect mostly children under the age of 5.
The BNP-run Bangladeshi government has been caught in difficult position. Being in charge in Bangladesh at the moment, it is expected to do its best in trying to bring a raging disease under control.
Unfortunately, it has also to answer and explain to the world at large, as to why Bangladeshis must suffer and die in such large numbers from a disease that has been wiped out in many parts of the world..in some ways it is not fair to subject the Tarique Rahman led-administration to explain why it had to happen at all.
In fact, Mr. Rahman could very well, in the light of present evidence ,claim that Bangladeshis are really paying for the crass negligence , even insensitivity, on part of their only Nobel laureate, Dr. Yunus and the caretaker regime he headed prior to the country’s recently held general elections. It has been a logical and necessary step for the BNP government to order an official robe to ascertain the causes and background of the great measles outbreak.
According to officials familiar with the matter, preliminary findings suggest the disease spread for utterly inefficient anti- mosquito/germ control measures and a shocking absence of even basic medicines, as the disease spiralled out of control. Dhaka and adjacent areas were affected first, while other congested areas too began to suffer later.
Meanwhile, various UN affiliated agencies and the UNICEF authorities have officially stated that between 2024 to 2026 March, they had written at least six letters warning the Bangladesh authorities of a possible shortage of vaccines and other basic medicines to combat mosquito-related fevers and diseases like malaria in the near future , unless urgent official orders, were placed with concerned medical authorities. They said at least 10 official meetings were held between Dhaka-based officials and various UNICEF and other officials, to discuss the matter –, some of them while Dr Yunus was the interim head of the country.
While many things relating to general health and other matters were discussed, apparently nothing was done by Dhaka-based authorities to take care of what turned out to be the most important step of the time — no orders were finalised and sent out of Dhaka!
In hindsight, the grievous and glaring omission of their basic responsibility on part of Dr Yunus and the team of administrators he had led — to prevent the outbreak of major diseases and to save the lives of large sections of vulnerable people from infectious diseases by ensuring professional measures and ensuring the adequate supply of essential medicines, vaccines and after care — seems nothing short of criminal negligence, according hardline BNP leaders. Some of them, even before the polls, had never concealed their scepticism about the abilities (and even the political motives) of Dr Yunus, to run the administration of a major and complex country like Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, in West Bengal and other Indian states, district authorities and Medical Association source said that they were monitoring the situation in the border regions and other areas. There were always high possibilities of infectious diseases spreading from a single spot to different areas nearby during both the pre and post monsoon months, they said. (IPA Service)
