Court dismisses MP's application to sue Yunus, 4 others over child deaths from measles

Highlights:

• Petition alleged negligence, fraud, and breach of trust 'tantamount to murder'
• It claimed that Yunus-led govt stopped Unicef vaccine imports and opted for slow open-tendering process
• Health ministry allegedly ignored multiple explicit warnings from Unicef

A Dhaka court has dismissed an application filed seeking to lodge a case against former interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, former health adviser Nurjahan Begum, and three others on allegations of negligence of duty, fraud, and breach of trust concerning the ongoing measles outbreak and resulting child deaths.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Iqbal, member of parliament for Kishoreganj-5, filed the petition with the court of Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Jashita Islam this morning (8 June).

Upon receiving the application, the court recorded his statement and kept the order pending, Ashutosh, bench assistant of the court, told The Business Standard.

Confirming the dismissal, his lawyer, Rafiqul Islam, said the accused were part of the government. The section mentioned by the plaintiff in the case does not apply against them; therefore, the judge dismissed the case's application, he added.

"Once we get the order, we will decide later whether to go to the High Court or not," he said.

The other individuals accused in the petition are former secretary to the Health Services Division Saidur Rahman, former special assistant to the chief adviser for the health ministry Prof Dr Md Sayedur Rahman, and former director general of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr Md Abu Jafor.

Writ seeks probe into Yunus, former advisers over measles vaccine policy

The application said that although the former chief adviser is highly educated and a Nobel laureate, his "extreme negligence" of duty and intentional actions have led to the deaths of hundreds of children and endangered the lives of thousands of others.

The complainant stated that this situation is tantamount to murder.

The petition alleged that the other accused, while holding crucial positions in the health ministry during the tenure of the interim government, neglected their duties and purposefully failed to import the measles vaccine on time, committing a punishable and inhumane offence.

It also noted that the act constituted fraud against citizens and violated their fundamental rights.

The application stated that, like almost all countries in the world, Bangladesh regularly provides vaccines, including for measles-rubella, to protect children from various infectious diseases.

Due to regular immunisation programmes over a long period, mortality rates from measles and rubella have dropped significantly worldwide, it added.

The application said that since the beginning, Bangladesh had been importing various vaccines, including the measles-rubella vaccine, through Unicef.

Cautioned multiple times

However, after the interim government led by Yunus took office, the import of measles-rubella vaccines through Unicef was halted, according to the application.

At the same time, initiatives were taken to procure the vaccines through open tendering, but as the process was long-term, a vaccine shortage was created, it added.

The petitioner claimed that in an interview published on 20 May, Unicef Representative to Bangladesh Rana Flowers stated that the health authorities of the interim government had been cautioned multiple times about a potential shortage of the vaccine.

Requests were also made by Unicef to the Yunus-led government not to stop the existing system of vaccine imports, the application said.

Procurement changes under interim govt triggered measles vaccine stockouts: Science.org

Despite warnings issued during several meetings on the matter, the authorities concerned allegedly ignored them, it added.

As a result, a large number of children in the country were allegedly deprived of receiving the vaccine on time, leading to the ongoing measles outbreak.

According to the petition, some 75,708 children were admitted to different hospitals across the country with measles infections from 15 March to 4 June, and official records show that around 610 children died during this period.

It also mentioned that besides the patients admitted to hospitals, many other children were infected with measles in different areas of the country, a large portion of whom were not included in official statistics.

This situation forced the families of the infected children to spend significant amounts of money on medical treatment and also imposed a massive financial burden on the state, the petitioner said.

Citing specific examples of child deaths, the applicant said these fatalities occurred due to the vaccine shortage and the measles outbreak.

Lawmaker Iqbal claimed that the situation has been entirely created due to the negligence, wrong decisions, and ill-intentioned activities of the individuals concerned.