UP govt undertakes massive vaccination drive against JE

Lucknow, Nov 5 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh government today said in the state Council that it has undertaken a massive vaccination drive against the vector-borne disease Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Eastern parts of the state.

Replying to the questions raised by members of the teachers group Raj Bahadur Singh Chandel and Dr Wazi D Singh, Leader of the House Swamy Prasad Maurya said the ruling BSP has undertaken a massive vaccination drive to fight the fatal JE.

Last year, 68.36 children, under the age group of 15 years, were vaccinated in the highly sensitive Gorakhpur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Maharajganj and three other districts of eastern UP. This year, 94.99 children in 11 districts had been vaccinated, Mr Maurya said.

He informed this year, over 2000 patients had come to the Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur and other district hospitals, of which 402 died.

Dissatified over this, the Council members demanded the Chairman Sukhram Singh Yadav to adjourn proceedings of the House.

However, the chairman turned down the demand and directed the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to probe into all the raised questions and give statement in this regard in next session of the House.

Last year, the deadly JE had killed almost 1,000 people in UP, while the scourage has already killed several thousands of people in the region over the last decade.

JE patients mostly trickle from Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda, Bahraich, Mau, Ballia and Balrampur districts of the state.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being the JE epicentre in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year and continues to take people under its jaws till the onset of winters.

UNI