Centre to launch mass vaccination drive in six districts-TOI

 

PATNA: Centre has agreed in principle to undertake mass vaccination campaign in six districts of Bihar, including Gaya and Muzaffarpur where more than 20 children have died due to suspected encephalitis during the last 15 days.
Principal secretary, health, Amarjeet Sinha said, "We had earlier requested the Centre to carry out a mass vaccination programme against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Gaya and other affected districts. However, the Centre had expressed its inability due to shortage of vaccines. But, keeping in view the urgency of situation, it has now decided to launch mass vaccination campaign in affected regions. The regions include Gaya and Muzaffarpur, the two most severely affected districts."
Sinha claimed that only a single case of suspected encephalitis was reported from Gaya in the last 72 hours while two children admitted earlier were undergoing treatment. Both the children are from Aurangabad and Imamganj, Gaya, he said, adding a team from Patna will go to the affected villages on Friday where a mass vaccination drive would be launched in affected areas and Mahadalit localities. In Muzaffarpur, Sinha said four children were admitted to hospital on Thursday - two in Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital and two at a private nursing home.
Strongly refuting the reports of children dying due to suspected encephalitis in Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Sinha said, "Not a single death has occurred at the PMCH. The casualties were due to heatstroke and dehydration coupled with convulsion syndrome." With regard to Gaya and Muzaffarpur, he said even samples tested by Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) for suspected JE were negative.
Sinha, who visited both Muzaffarpur and Gaya on Tuesday, said, "In Muzaffarpur, the number of deaths reported from government medical college hospital was less than Kejriwal Hospital, which does not have an ICU. We have arranged for two ambulances there."
In a new development, the state health department has found substance in the theory propounded by a Muzaffarpur doctor, who has attributed the disease to excessive heat and humidity. "During my Muzaffarpur visit, at almost every hospital reporting encephalitis cases, I encountered children with extreme dehydration. Surely, there has been some connection between the excessive heat condition prevailing in the state and the deaths. That with the onset of monsoon, the disease subsides, gives credence to the theory," he said. He said the referred cases to both Muzaffarpur and Gaya had come from East Champaran and Sheohar districts.