UP seeks Centre's help for JE vaccination drive

Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh today sought the Centre's help in starting a vaccination campaign to prevent Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and to boost the state's ambulance fleet.
Singh met Union Health Minister J P Nadda here with a host of demands and was offered "full cooperation" from the Centre.
"There are certain programmes which are centrally sponsored. We had certain issues and clarifications, particularly relating to AIDS, certain vaccination programmes like JE. We wanted timely execution since it is likely to increase in the next few months," Singh told PTI.
Japanese Encephalitis affects a vast region of the eastern Uttar Pradesh, especially the Gorakhpur region where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath comes from.

Singh told Nadda that the state also needs to increase its fleet of ambulances to meet the target of reaching patients within 15 minutes of an emergency call.
The BJP had in its election manifesto made this promise.

He said there is currently one ambulance for 1.5 lakh population in the state and the government needed to bring it down to one ambulance per 1 lakh heads to achieve the 15 minute target.
Nadda assured central funding for more ambulances, he said.
"We are very satisfied by the Centre's response and cooperation on health issues," he said.