The Congress party on Wednesday described the deaths of infants because of encephalitis in Bihar as a “national horror and tragedy” and asked the Centre to immediately constitute a team of doctors to deal with the situation.
Addressing a press conference, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi claimed that the death toll of children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) had reached nearly 150.
“It is a sorry state of affairs and we feel that the State Government in Bihar has been both unprepared and insensitive. We can see the insensitivity in the remarks of the State Health Minister when he is asking for cricket score in the middle of an important meeting. We can see the insensitivity in the Chief Minister’s delayed visit to the hospital and unfortunately this attitude has been replicated by the Central Government as well,” said Mr Gogoi.
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“The Prime Minister talks of India being the fastest growing economy but the reality is that 146 children have died in Muzaffarpur due to deficient health infrastructure,” he added.
The Congress MP said that the government should identify the districts that are affected with AES and equip the hospitals in advance to deal with the situation.
“It has been cited in many technical reports that the underlying cause for so many deaths is acute hunger and malnutrition. Surely, we all can put our heads and minds together, we can solve this and we urge upon the newly-elected government to take this seriously and prepare a national action programme,” he said.
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