Encephalitis menace: CPI slams Centre, state over children’s deaths, urges govt to hike compensation

Encephalitis Deaths: Senior Communist Party of India leader Vinay Vishwam on Monday held both the central and the state government responsible for the death of more than 150 children across 20 districts in Bihar. Vishwam, a Rajya Sabha member, also asked the state government to pay sufficient compensation to those who lost their children. The CPI leader urged the state and Centre to carry out a rehabilitation project for malnourished children. This comes after the Rajya Sabha MP visited Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital along with CPI Bihar unit secretary Satya Narain Singh at Muzaffarpur. Dismissing the alleged correlation between litchi and childrens deaths, Vishwam termed it a baseless and foolish story. He also called the compensation of four lakh to deceased families by the state government as inadequate and pitched for more amount. Earlier in the day, the Congress too slammed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government over the deaths due to fever outbreak. In a tweet, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala held Nitish Kumar directly responsible for the deaths in the state. ALSO READ | The top court bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice BR Gavai asked the Bihar government to file an affidavit on the adequacy of medical facilities, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition in the state. According to research published in the IJMR (The Indian Journal of Medical Research) in 2017, there were over 44,000 cases and 6,000 deaths from encephalitis between 2008 and 2014. Symptoms of encephalitis include low blood sugar levels, convulsions and high fever. On Sunday, former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha also blamed Nitish Kumar for the deaths of children. Speaking to reporters at his party office in Patna, the RLSP chief said that the entire health services were left at Gods mercy. A team from the Indian Medical Association has visited the site and said that hypoglycaemia and dehydration have played a major role in the deaths.