HC takes serious note of Japanese Encephalitis

Allahabad, Sep 5 (UNI) Allahabad High Court today took a serious note of the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) affecting thousands of children in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The court has directed the Principal Secretary of Medical and Health and Director General of Medical and Health and UP government to appear before the court on September 12 with a detail report in relation to the steps taken in the matter.

The order was passed by Justice Sunil Ambawani hearing a contempt petition filed by Rajesh Kumar Srivastava of Varanasi.

The court observed the reports submitted by expert doctors, who doubted the disease to be either JE or Cox Rackie Encephalitis, a viral infection, which incubates in pigs and is carried by mosquito in paddy fields to rural areas.

The experts have also recommended to set up the labs either at SGPGI, Lucknow or BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur for identifying the virus. But these recommendations were not taken into consideration, the court said.

The Right to Health is a basic human right guranteed under article 21 of the Constitution of India and the government, which ignores this right and allows its children to die, does not have a right to continue even for a day, the court added.

Passing the order, the court said the medical institutes have not yet completed studies to recommend standardised treatment for either of these infections.

The state government has not provided them with sufficient funds and there are no equipped laboratories to isolate the strains and to identify them.

UNI JL ATI VS SBA HT2057