Under attack for the virulent spread of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday expressed dismay over the inability of medical experts to pin-point the nature of the brain fever that grips the state's northern districts every year and claimed the lives of more than 150 children last month.
Intervening during a debate on the floor of the state assembly that followed acceptance of an adjournment motion on the AES outbreak, Kumar, whose government has been under attack for its failure to contain the outbreak of the disease, said, "We were lucky for couple of years as the disease did not strike with the same virulence. But this time, it resulted in a mammoth tragedy".
The chief minister recalled that in 2015, a year after the state witnessed the worst ever outbreak of AES, he had convened a meeting of experts at AIIMS, Patna, to look into the nature of this disease.
"Please note, it is still called a syndrome (a group of symptoms). Each expert appeared to have a different opinion. So I requested that people from the medical field set up a committee which could arrive at a conclusion.
"This is important as in cases where the exact nature of disease is known we are able to act much more effectively," he said.
Also Read
Kumar said Japanese Encephalitis, for which Gorakhpur in neighbouring UP is most notorious, has been reported in Gaya.
"We have instructed officials to carry out intensive immunisation drive. The vaccines are obtained from the Centre. Officials have been instructed that even seemingly less vulnerable districts must be covered lest the virus strikes there," he said.
However, he added, that does not mean his government has watched haplessly following the AES outbreak.
He said the state government will focus on prevention until a cure is available to deal with this disease. The preventive methods will include creating better awareness about the syndrome among people.
"It is the reason why I have ordered a socio-economic profiling of families which have reported AES cases," Kumar said.
"I also visited the SKMCH hospital in Muzaffarpur (government-controlled, which alone counts for more than 100 casualties). I regretted why I never visited the hospital earlier in my tenure. The principal secretary of the health department had accompanied me and I pointed out that the pediatric ICU was woefully short of expectations," he said.
The chief minister said he ordered for upgrading the facility and subsequently, a separate ward which was reserved for jail inmates needing medical attention was converted, temporarily, into a pediatric ICU.
"Nonetheless, the hospital will see a huge upgrade... Facilities available there will be made on par with super-specialty hospitals in Patna," he assured.
Asserting that availability of funds would not come in the way, the chief minister said healthcare will not be compromised for want of money. "If need be, we will move a second supplementary budget".
Kumar spoke in detail on the deadly disease that has claimed 154 lives so far.
"It's a very very unfortunate incident. We just cannot express our regret (towards the incident)," he said in the assembly.
"It's a very serious issue.... It was quite evident after meeting the attendants of patients and victims during my visit to the SKMCH that most of the victims belonged to poor families."
Kumar, who had visited the Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur when the AES death counts had mounted last month, had faced protests and avoided the volley of questions from the media.
The adjournment motion, which according to assembly sources was the first to be accepted and put to debate in the current Vidhan Sabha, which was elected in November 2015, was moved by Sadanand Singh and Vijay Shankar Dubey of the Congress, Lalit Yadav and Nematullah of the RJD and Mahboob Alam of the CPI(ML) among others.
Earlier, senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui said he was thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for having expressed serious concern in Parliament over the AES outbreak.
"However, we are still wondering as to what has to be the way out. Will the Centre will be allocating any special assistance to the state on this count?" Siddiqui said.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
