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A remote village in Bangladesh's Bandarban district is grappling with a measles outbreak, which has claimed the lives of at least seven children in the past 15 days. The latest victim, a 4-year-old, died while en route to Bandarban Sadar Hospital, underscoring the critical difficulties in accessing healthcare in the isolated Letong Khumi Para.

Local residents reported the deaths of two children with measles-like symptoms on Saturday morning. Health workers dispatched to the village found three critically ill children, advising immediate hospitalization. One child died during the journey, while another, suffering severe respiratory distress, was referred to Chattogram Medical College Hospital but also succumbed.

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Prelung requires treatment in an intensive care unit. As our hospital does not have any ICU facility, the child has been referred to CMCH.

Dr. Mohammad Abdullah Al Hasan, the upazila health and family planning officer in Ruma, stated that many families in the village rely on traditional remedies and often delay seeking medical treatment due to poverty and the village's extreme remoteness. Letong Khumi Para is a three to four-hour trek through difficult terrain from the nearest town, making it hard for medical teams to reach regularly and for patients to be transported to hospitals promptly.

Health officials have been vaccinating children in the area and treating those affected. However, the ongoing challenges of accessibility and economic hardship mean that timely medical intervention remains a significant hurdle in combating the outbreak.

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Due to the remoteness and lack of communication facilities, doctors and medical teams cannot regularly reach the village, while it becomes difficult to bring critically ill children to hospital in time. Poverty has also prevented many families from seeking treatment promptly, he added.