Encephalitis: SC seeks response of Centre, Bihar,UP govts on PIL

Patna, July 16: The Supreme Court has sought the response of the Centre, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh governments on a PIL seeking urgent steps to control the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and provide necessary medical facilities to persons suffering from it.

 

A bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, issued a notice to the Health Ministry, Chief Secretaries and Secretaries of Health of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh governments. The plea also sought prompt and free of cost treatment to all the children suffering from AES.

The plea, filed by a lawyer, sought direction to the Centre and state governments to create the necessary infrastructure for treatment of the children already suffering from the epidemic disease and prevents its further spread.

It also sought direction for the constitution of a committee of medical experts to find out the reasons for the loss of lives of more than 100 children and to fix responsibility of the persons whose negligence has resulted in the deaths.

On the other side, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan had assured that the central government will provide all necessary help to the state. In this regard, the Health Minister had sent a central team to review the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) situation in view of recently reported cases in Assam and also directed the Ministry to extend all support and assistance to the state government.