The over crowded Intensive Care Unit ward of Sri Krishna Medical college and Hospital in Muzaffarpur. (Express Photo by Ritesh Shukla )A fact-finding team of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has blamed administrative failure and state’s apathy for deaths of children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur. The summary of the report pointed out that all the children aged between 1.5- 12 years who died in this epidemic, belonged exclusively to families of lower socio- economic strata.
The AES outbreak in the state has claimed the lives of over 150 children with majority of these deaths being reported from Muzaffarpur.
The AIIMS report also observed that the cases peaked in summer months of May-June and geographically, they are clustered in thatched roof huts of Muzaffarpur. “The affected children started having symptoms from night till early morning and family members took them to health facility on their own with a deadly delay and little help from local health officials,” it said.
Earlier, The Indian Express had reported that the lives of the victims of AES outbreak had largely been untouched by state and central schemes, from health and nutrition to sanitation and social welfare.
“Despite these deaths happening for ten years, no preventive mechanism and health awareness was adopted. There is poor sanitation, even in health facilities. Muzaffarpur has no functional sewerage system and suffers from severe drinking water scarcity,” the fact-finding report said.
