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collect data from civil surgeon’s office and medical college hospital but they do not send the data to the headquarters.

The civil surgeon’s office sends data to the headquarters, he told The Daily Star yesterday. “But our data is accurate.”

Contacted, Mymensingh Civil Surgeon Faisal Ahmed asked this correspondent to contact with a staffer of his office as he could not recall the number immediately.

The staffer said they have collected the total number of suspected deaths at MMCH and found 12 of them were from Mymensingh district.

Both said they send the data to the DGHS headquarters every day.

On the other hand, central data show 11 suspected and five confirmed deaths in Barishal division, whereas divisional data indicate 22 suspected deaths and three confirmed deaths since March.

This means at least 34 more suspected measles deaths -- 25 in Mymensingh and nine in Barishal -- are yet to be added to the official tally.

Of the suspected measles deaths in Barishal, 14 occurred at Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barishal, six in Bhola and two in Jhalakathi. Three confirmed deaths were recorded in Barguna.

Of the deaths, eight, including three confirmed deaths, were recorded in March, 14 in April and three in May, Abdullah Al Mamun, an official of the divisional health office, told our Barishal correspondent.

Contacted, DGHS Barishal Director Lokman Hakim said they collected the data from the civil surgeon’s office and medical college hospitals and compiled it.

“There might be a communication gap resulting in the number mismatch -- we will look into the matter,” Abu Ahammad Al Mamun, DGHS’s director for management information system (MIS) that compiles and publishes the data, told The Daily Star last night.

The data from civil surgeons’ offices across the country is collected and then compiled.

Mamun said that they have no intention to suppress death figures.

The Integrated Control Cell of DGHS has been publishing measles data, including suspected cases and deaths, confirmed cases and deaths, division-wise suspected cases and deaths, and confirmed cases and deaths on a daily basis on its website.

[Our correspondents in Barishal and Mymensingh contributed to the report]