More than 270 children suspected of encephalitis have been admitted for treatment. M I Khan reports.
Encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease, has killed 61 children, mostly Mahadalits, while more than 50 are still fighting for their life in Bihar's Gaya district, health officials said on Monday.
All the children died at Anugrah Narain Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH) in Gaya.
The disease has killed a dozen children in the last one week. "With death of two children in the last twenty four hours and ten children in the past five days, the death toll has risen to 6," Ajay Kishor Ravi, who heads the hospital's children's department, said.
However, the state health secretary Sanay Kumar, who visited the hospital on Sunday, said that it was unfortunate that a large number of children died of encephalitis.
According to health officials, the disease started claiming lives of children since August 23. Since then children continue to die of it. Superintendent of ANMCH, Sitaram Prasad, said that government had employed several medical teams to control the disease. He said that more than 270 children with suspected encephalitis were admitted for treatment at hospital.
"Some children are still battling for life as their condition remains critical. However, some are showing signs of improvement," he said.
Prasad said those children who died mostly belonged to poorest of the poor families in Gaya and its neighbouring districts.
Bihar Health Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said measures were being taken to check the spread of the disease. "The government decided to identify the villages affected and carry out intensive spraying of DDT to kill mosquitoes," he said.
A district administration official said that encephalitis hit Gaya in 2009, 2007 and 2005 and killed dozens of children.
With 45 samples of brain fever cases having tested positive in last the one-and-half-months, the disease has been the reason of lot of worry at the Patna Medical College and Hospital. Three people reportedly died due to the disease.
Two months ago 51 children died in Muzaffarpur district but the state government is yet to confirm these as encephalitis deaths.
Last month, union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad informed the Rajya Sabha that clinical and epidemiological data suggested that it was an outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome, resulting in 150 cases and 55 deaths, mostly among children.
In a written reply, the minister said these cases were reported from early June to mid-July from Muzaffarpur and its bordering areas in Bihar.
