When will Nitish govt wake up to encephalitis?
Jun 19, 2012 | Pratirodh BureauOver 200 children have died in Bihar due to encephalitis since the outbreak of the disease in May this year.
Another 300 children are battling for their lives in different hospitals across the state.
This has revealed the hollowness of the claims made by Nitish Kumar government on the health front.
It has become a routine affair for the state government, it wakes up to the deadly encephalitis after the killer disease claim several lives every year in summer.
As per the medical experts, the disease has spread due to contaminated drinking water and lack of cleanliness in the rural areas of the state.
If the government give proper attention to the supply of potable drinking water in the rural areas then the disease can be checked to a large extent.
Ten districts including, Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, East Champaran and Vaishali, have been declared as encephalitis-affected.
The parents of dying children have also blamed the State Government for failure in checking the disease which strikes every year during the months of June- August.
The doctors fear the number of deaths due to encephalitis would rise and touch a new record this year as the disease has struck in May itself and the counting of the dying children is on.
As per the union rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, Rs 525 crore has been sanctioned this only for improving quality of drinking water in the rural areas across the country.
Out of which, Bihar will get Rs 61 crore and it is utmost important that Bihar uitilises the fund effectively.
The state government needs to do something serious to check and control this deadly disease which makes its presence every year.
Encephalitis is a condition of acute inflammation of the brain resulting either from a viral infection or when the description`s immune system mistakenly attacks the brain tissue.