The Health Minister made these remarks on Monday (November 9) afternoon at an event held at the Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute. He was the chief guest at the program, which was organized to inaugurate the institution's newly constructed four-story steel building.
Towards the end of the event, a journalist directed a question at the Health Minister, saying, "1,200 children have died of measles in seven months; whose responsibility is this? Is it the interim government's or the current government's? Someone must take this responsibility."
In response, Sardar Md. Sakhawat Hossain said, "The responsibility is indeed mine. Hang me. It is my failure. But I have tried. It is not my government's failure."
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Regarding the measles vaccine, the Health Minister said, "Some mischievous people claim that this vaccine has been brought from India. This is not true. Only 8 percent of the vaccines were imported from India. The rest were brought from Germany, Japan, Australia, the United Kingdom, South Korea, and Indonesia. These vaccines were procured at a low cost."
The Health Minister further added that the vaccine being used in the country is tested by the World Health Organization (WHO) and supplied by UNICEF. Complaining that many parents have not vaccinated or are not vaccinating their children against measles, he said, "Almost none of those who are currently infected with measles were vaccinated. A large portion of them are under six months of age."
The event was chaired by Professor A. K. M. Azizul Haque, President of the Management Board of Bangladesh Shishu Hospital and Institute.