Japanese Encephalitis toll at 137

Gorakhpur, Sep 7 (UNI) The toll in Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Uttar Pradesh has reached 137 following the death of six more children today.

Joint Director of Health Umakant Prasad said the patients' inflow was continuing at the local Baba Raghav Das Medical College.

Since April, a total of 819 people, mostly children, sufferring from JE have been admitted to the medical college, of which 120 -- including 16 fresh cases -- are still under treatment.

The patients belong to Gorakhpur, Deoria, Maharajganj, Sant Kabirnagar, Kushinagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Azamgarh, Gonda and Balrampur district of UP.

At least 104 cases pertain to Bihar, while Nepal accounts for three JE cases reported here.Till now, the deadly disease has taken the life of 21 people in Bihar.

Gorakhpur has the dubious distiction of being in epicentre of Japenese Encephalitis in the region. The endemic afflicts eastern UP during monsoon every year.

The government had undertaken a massive vaccination drive against the vector-borne disease, however, the efficacy and penetration of the drive has come under a cloud with the mounting toll.

Meanwhile, a medical team from Pune is conducting tests to ascertain the cause of the disease.

Allahabad High Court on September 5 took a serious note of the deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) affecting thousands of children in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

The court 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 detailed report in relation to the steps taken in the matter.

The Right to Health is a basic human right guaranted 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.

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