Azad for GoM to deal with Japanese encephalitis

October 25, 2011 01:47 am | Updated November 17, 2021 12:49 am IST - NEW DELHI:

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during his visit to a medical college, where 450 children died from encephalitis recently, in Gorakhpur on Thursday. File photo

Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad during his visit to a medical college, where 450 children died from encephalitis recently, in Gorakhpur on Thursday. File photo

With over 400 children dying of Japanese encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh so far this year, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has suggested the setting up a group of ministers (GoM) to deal with the dreaded disease that claims hundreds of young lives every year.

After holding discussions with the State and Central government officials during his visit, Mr. Azad, who visited Gorakhpur earlier this week, has come to the conclusion that the acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) can be addressed only through a multi-pronged strategy. “This will require interventions from the Ministries like Drinking Water and Sanitation, Social Justice and Empowerment and Women and Child Development as well.”

Under criticism from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for failing to do much to contain the disease, Mr. Azad said a high-level committee of experts had already been constituted in the Ministry under the chairmanship of the Director-General of Health Services and Special DGHS.

The Committee consists of experts/officials from the Directorate of National Vector-Borne Diseases Control Programme; Indian Council of Medical Research, Uttar Pradesh; National Centre for Diseases Control; and a representative of the NDMA as suggested by Mr. Shashidhar Reddy, vice-chairperson of the NDMA.

It was Mr. Reddy who had been very critical of the Centre's response to the JE outbreak after he visited the district hospital and realised that only a few ventilators were working instead of the total 21 ventilators installed in the building.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.