JE/AES vaccination to begin from Jan in UP: health minister

To protect children from Japanese Encephalitis (JE), Uttar Pradesh health and family welfare department has planned to organise vaccination of children from January next year.

The department has also sought assistance of Bihar government in tackling the flow of patients to BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur as well as district hospitals located in bordering districts.

Talking to HT, health minister Siddharth Nath Singh said, earlier vaccination was launched before the onset of monsoon in April and May in 20 districts. This year 93 lakh children were vaccinated. Though the number of JE cases came down but the flow of the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) patients multiplied. “Learning lesson from the past we have decided to launch vaccination programme earlier this year. The state government has written to the central government to supply the vaccine early,” he said.

The department has also planned to increase 10 beds in the JE/AES wards established in the district hospitals and 100 beds in Mother and Child Hospital in Gorakhpur, he said.

Secretary, health and family welfare V Hekali Zhimomi said there is large flow of JE/AES patients to Gorakhpur and adjoining districts from bordering districts in Bihar each year. “Hospitals are overburdened due to sudden increase of patients during monsoon. We have urged Bihar government to provide facilities to such patients in their state. We have also invited doctors from Bihar for a training programme organised by the state health department,” she said.

The health department has also hired the services of CMC Vellore and PATH Foundation to train the government doctors managing the critical care units in the hospital. The PATH Foundation will also submit a report on the gaps in the health services in the JE/AES sensitive districts. The aim is to strengthen the health service and provide better facilities to the patients, she said.

Meanwhile, Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANM), Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwari workers posted in villages are also being trained to raise awareness among people.

The health department has also decided to deploy health education officers for awareness programme. The focus will be on early admission of the patients to nearby primary health centres and community health centres. The officers will also raise awareness among villagers through information-education- communication (IEC) regarding preventive measures, symptom of the disease and early examination by the medical practitioner.