Apex Court raps Bihar Govt., over AES deaths, directs it to file affidavit within 7 days.
By: – Syed Ali Taher Abedi
The Apex court on Monday pulled up the Bihar Govt., over the increasing encephalitis deaths of the children in the state.
The top court asked the state to file an affidavit within seven days, specifying the steps taken to check the deaths of children it asked the state to include the details on adequacy of Medical facilities, nutrition and sanitation and hygiene conditions.
The Muzzafferpur District of Bihar has reported over 150 deaths of children due to AES so far.
Cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome have seen a spike in Muzzafferpur district of Bihar this year, already claiming more than a hundred lives.Bihar has been the epicenter of AES from 2012 and 2014, when 395 and 372 children lost their lives respectively, though the AES cases have been reorted from several districts in Bihar: Gaya, Patna, Aurangabad, Saran, East Champran, Sitamarhi and Vaishali.
The state government said that it had been able to control the disease and assured the top court that all possible steps are being taken to deliver proper medication to the affected kids.
During the hearing, one of the lawyers informed the court that similar deaths had occurred in Utter Pradesh. The court took the note and directed the state government to file its response as well.
A bench of Justice Sanjive Khanna and BR Gavai also issued notices to the canter and the state government, asking them to file affidavits about the Facilities dealing with public health, nutrition and sanitation, for treatment of children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffapur.
The matter has been posted for hearing after days.