Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Wednesday said the government has taken necessary steps to contain the measles outbreak, expressing sorrow over the deaths of children from the disease.

“Many of our children have died from measles. It is very unfortunate. We are trying to ensure that the situation can be managed in the coming days,” he told Parliament replying to a supplementary question from opposition lawmaker Salah Uddin Ahmed (Gazipur-4).

Thanking the lawmaker for raising the issue, Tarique Rahman described the situation as ‘very unfortunate’ and blamed the previous governments for the lapse.

Referring to the previous two governments, he said measles vaccines for children had not been imported for several years during both the past regime and the subsequent interim government which had been supported to ensure a free, fair and neutral election.

He said the problem became visible due to the lack of proper vaccination over the years.

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However, the prime minister said the government moved quickly after the situation emerged, with support from Unicef Bangladesh.

“Unicef has helped Bangladesh a lot in this regard. They have quickly sent measles vaccines allowing us to begin vaccination. We have planne to vaccinate nearly two crore children,” he said.

Acknowledging a shortage of measles testing kits, he said the government is working to address the issue.

“A number of kits have already arrived. One kit can be used to conduct three tests,” he said, adding that some kits are currently at airport customs and steps are being taken to release them soon.

The House sat at around 3:00pm with Speaker Hafiz Uddin Ahmad in the chair.

The first 30 minutes of the sitting were allocated for the Prime Minister’s question time.