The BMC’s health staff has for the last four days been going from door to door in the locality, checking children under five for fever and the tell-tale rash of measles, and urging parents to take their unvaccinated child for a shot.
Around 80,000 houses in the entire M East ward that includes Govandi, have been surveyed, said BMC health officials. But Qureshi was firm that no one had checked on her child.
In the dusty bylanes of Shivaji Nagar, Govandi, where three cousins died within a 48-hour period allegedly due to measles, the awareness about the ongoing outbreak of the contagious disease is shockingly low.
Barefoot children are either running around or huddled together to watch clips on a mobile phone, clearly unaware that measles spreads through coughs and sneezes.
Mumtaz Qureshi, mother of a toddler, told one leading newspaper, “No health officer has come to our homes. ”
