To,
Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda,
Minister of Health and Family Welfare,
Government of India
Sub: Need of urgent intervention to reintroduce Mumps Vaccine in the immunisation program.
Respected Shri JP Nadda ji,
I am writing to bring to your urgent attention to the unprecedented spread of Mumps disease in many states.Mumps remain a highly prevalent disease and unfortunately, more than 90% cases are not getting reported.During the second half of 2023, there was a pan-India pandemic of Mumps disease which is continuing affecting children all over the country. According to recent reports, states such as Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Telangana,Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have seen rising number of mumps cases for the last few years in an unusual manner. InKerala, there is an alarming rise in the number of Mumps cases with the reported cases being around 2000 for the lastyear. In the current year 2024, more than 69000 cases have been reported as I write this letter. Health experts have pointed out that acute meningoencephalitis, the commonest serious complication seen inchildren and adolescents, occurs in 1-10% of patients. Uncommonly, the Mumps virus may target the central nervoussystem, inner ear, endocrine organs (pancreas, thyroid) or testes and ovaries and develop into serious complications like
meningitis, encephalitis, deafness, pancreatitis, mastitis and in post-pubertal age orchitis an oophoritis. Hearing loss is typically unilateral and transient but sudden onset of permanent deafness occurs in approximately 1 out of 20000 Mumps patients.Considering the above mentioned facts and alarming rise in the number of Mumps cases, I request your intervention into launching mass vaccination programs for Mumps to effectively prevent and control the disease. I also request you to make available free, safe, effective, indigenous and cost-effective Mumps vaccine and the vaccination program must be launched immediately considering the severity of the situation. Mumps vaccine should be made part of the UIP as MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) instead of the MR vaccine. It needs mentioning here that as of December 2023, 123 of the 194 member countries have included Mumps vaccine into their national immunisation programmes I hope our country will also include Mumps vaccine in the UIP after your intervention. I hope this urgent matter will find your immediate attention.
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