By Gayathri P
According to media, as of June 18th, 11 am, deaths of 108 children have taken place due to acute encephalitis syndrome or the chamki fever in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
A large number of children have been brought in with the same illness to Sri Krishna Medical College and other private hospitals.
Bihar is in the middle of a huge crisis, but is the government really taking proper actions and realizing the urgency and importance to take appropriate actions as soon as possible?
Over a hundred children were admitted in the hospital but it was observed that at night there was only one pediatrician present to take care of them.
Doctors have still not been able to pin-point the exact reason. With lot of confusion and chaos it is observed that all the ministers only continue to shrug the responsibilities.
After all this time, today, Nitish Kumar, CM of Bihar gets time to visit Muzaffarpur but at the same time we do not see the health minister Mangal Pandey accompanying him.
There is massive protest outside hospitals due to lack of adequate support from the Bihar government. The angry families are demanding better medical facilities, food and care to be taken, amidst this bizarre situation. All they want is their children to survive.
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During a brief press conference about the situation, Minister Ashwini Choubey was lousily closing his eyes and dozing off.
During the discussion, Mantri Mangal Pandey was curious about the score of the India vs Pak cricket match. The score is probably a priority over hundreds of deaths of the innocent children!
This shows how uninterested and inattentive the ministers have been to address the need of the people suffering at Muzaffarpur.
In an interview, Dinesh Chandra Yadav justifies that this is not the first time Muzaffarpur is facing such a situation and that with rain, everything would fall into place on its own.
He further also justified that it is normal for his colleague to be curious about the score as it is about India and Pakistan.
There has been no improvement in the crisis on ground. The Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan who visited the hospital earlier ensured that the doctors are doing the best.
But it was found that only one pediatrician was working overnight, the attendant had slept and there was no one to open the cupboard where medicines were kept.
It is possible that this is due to Litchi Toxin without food that
encephalitis is spreading, while some say it could be Japanese Encephalitis but spreading of disease through air hasn’t been observed, and some even say it’s the heat wave.
There is so much uncertainty with little kids battling for their lives. Nitish Kumar leaves the hospital at 12:20 pm without a word to the public, about which the citizens are very much disappointment angered.
India won that cricket match. But the country is losing in terms of politicians being ignorant about such grave issues.
Image Sources: Google Images
Sources: India Today, The Hindu, News18
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