The state of Bihar which is already suffering from a rising number of Coronavirus cases and incompetent leadership of Nitish Kumar has to now also deal with another blow in the form of the return of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).
More than 20 cases of AES have been reported in a single hospital- Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) and the death of a 3-year-old boy was recorded. Last year 647 cases of AES were reported from 11 districts of Bihar and which resulted in 167 deaths.
AES is a viral disease which causes flu-like symptoms like high fever and vomiting. Some symptoms of AES are very similar to that of Coronavirus, which creates another problem for medical professionals and state government.
The situation in Bihar is getting worse and Union health minister Harsh Vardhan discussed the issue with health minister of Bihar in a video conference. “Today, I held a video conferencing meeting with the Health Minister of Bihar specifically on the issue of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES). Bihar govt has created more paediatric wards in the state and is alert on the issue,” said Harsh Vardhan.
Encephalitis, popularly known as ‘chamki bukhar’ in Bhojpuri speaking regions of UP and Bihar where it caused most deaths, has been active in these two states since 1995. Mostly underweight and malnourished children are affected due to AES. Majority of the children who died due to AES come from the poor socio-economic background.
On one hand, Coronavirus cases are rising exponentially in the state, on the other, a viral disease, with very similar symptoms is also spreading, and Nitish Kumar government is ineffective in containing any of these.
On both the fronts, Nitish can learn from Yogi Adityanath, the dynamic and young CM of UP. Nitish Kumar must note that in 2018, the Yogi government had launched a massive ‘door to door’ DASTAK campaign against Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in order to wipe out the deadly diseases from the state. DASTAK campaign is part of the Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) strategy incorporated by the Yogi government to completely eradicate encephalitis.
The number of deaths registered in UP due to Japanese Encephalitis declined to one third as of 187 in 2018 compared to 557 in 2017. The registered cases also declined to 2,043 in 2017 compared to 3,817 in 2018. In 2019, only 35 cases of AES have been reported in 14 districts of Eastern UP and no death has been reported. Also, in the ongoing year, no cases have been reported so far.
Nitish Kumar also refused to bring back the migrant labourers who sent billions of dollars in remittance to their home state and called the students preparing Kota rich kids who can manage on their own.
The problems in UP and Bihar are a lot similar given high population density, low per capita income and a large migrant population, and therefore, comparing the leadership of the two makes sense.
On one hand, Yogi Adityanath has made absolute efforts to bring every possible relief to migrant labourers of not just of UP but other states like Bihar and Jharkhand too, while on the other hand, Nitish Kumar has not made even a single visit to relief camps so far.
Nitish Kumar has completely failed the people of the state despite having experience of more than a decade while Yogi Adityanath, the young and dynamic CM of Uttar Pradesh with just 3 years of experience, shines like a new penny.
