Recently, Bangladesh’s public health sector has faced a deep crisis, which is not merely an administrative failure but rather a reckless gamble with the lives of a nation’s future generations.
According to a news report published yesterday, due to the shortsighted planning of the previous interim government and bureaucratic complications, the country’s disease prevention and control programmes have now reached the brink of collapse.
Because of vaccine mismanagement and the sudden suspension of the Operational Plan (OP), a shortage of vaccines for 11 deadly diseases has emerged, and there is now a growing fear that at least 26 infectious and non-communicable diseases could spread across the country.
It is learned that due to disruptions in the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), outbreaks of measles and rubella among children have increased at an alarming rate. Reports of measles-related deaths are emerging every day.
According to a report published in Ittefaq on Saturday (18 April), 37 people died of measles between 15 March and 17 April. A total of 211 people died showing symptoms of measles. During this period, 21,467 patients with measles symptoms sought treatment at hospitals. Currently, the majority of measles patients are infants aged five to six months.
This is because they did not receive the two doses of vaccine on time—at nine months and again at fifteen months. For this reason, public health experts claim that the rate of measles infection is several times higher than in previous years.
However, it is not only measles—due to the vaccine shortage, the protective shield against diseases such as tuberculosis (BCG), polio, pneumonia (PCV), and hepatitis B has also been severely weakened, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that it has practically collapsed.
This stagnation in the health sector is not limited only to immunization; the outbreak of other diseases is equally worrying. As the Vitamin A Plus campaign has been suspended for the past year, the risk of night blindness among children has increased.
Because the deworming programme has been halted, around 26 million children are now at risk of infection. In 13 malaria-prone districts, the situation is becoming dire due to a shortage of mosquito nets and the suspension of diagnostic services. Already, Commerce Secretary Mahbubur Rahman has died of malaria.
Besides this, all efforts to prevent the spread of diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, kala-azar, and typhoid have nearly come to a standstill. Medicines for non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure are not reaching marginal communities, causing long-term damage to public health.
To overcome this suffocating situation, bureaucratic obstacles must be removed immediately and public health must be given the highest priority. First, vaccine stocks must be ensured on an emergency basis by coordinating with international organisations such as UNICEF and GAVI.
The immunization programme must not remain suspended for even a single day under the excuse of procurement. Second, the suspended Operational Plan (OP) and the new Development Project Proposal (DPP) must be approved by ECNEC as quickly as possible and funding must be ensured.
Third, the overdue salaries of more than 25,000 field-level health workers must be paid and they must be motivated to return to work; otherwise, it will be impossible to successfully implement vaccination and public awareness programmes. Fourth, an emergency fund must be established to keep the supply of kits and medicines running for diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria.
Finally, we believe that ordinary people cannot be made to pay for the government’s policy mistakes with their lives. The health sector is not a laboratory where services can be suspended in the name of experimentation.
The current government must accept responsibility for past mistakes and take effective action immediately. Otherwise, they too will have to answer before the court of history for this negligence. Ensuring public health protection is not an act of charity—it is a constitutional obligation of the state.