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Measles outbreak kills more than 10 children in Mongolia

Xinhua, March 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

Highly contagious measles have killed more than 10 children and infected 3,263 others in Mongolia in the first two months of 2016, said a children welfare body on Monday.

Avirmed Dangaa, head of the Mongolian National Confederation of Children's Organizations, criticized the Health Ministry and Ulan Bator City Health Department for not taking effective measures to stop the spread of the disease and to warn the public of it.

Dangaa also blamed misinformation for the outbreak. Former Prime Minister Altankhuyag Norov claimed that measles had been eliminated in Mongolia, giving false information that has led to the current outbreak, he told a press conference.

The confederation demanded that a health minister should be appointed as soon as possible and that the head of the Ulan Bator City Health Department be dismissed for negligence of duty.

Medical equipment and beds at the National Center for Communicable Diseases, the main facility to treat contagious diseases in Mongolia, fall short of demand as 600 patients are in intensive pediatric department.

The health minister's duties were taken over by a deputy prime minister after the former health minister was arrested on charges of corruption. Endi