Kicking off the Communicable Diseases Control Campaign, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the previous governments did not take preventive measures against the spread of encephalitis because the children who died of this disease were poor and belonged to deprived sections.
“It is a fact that year after year, encephalitis wreaked havoc in eastern Uttar Pradesh, killing children. The previous regimes did not pay attention to the treatment of children as they belonged to poor families,” Yogi said while inaugurating the second phase of Communicable Disease Control Campaign in Lucknow on Monday.
The campaign, which is also called Dastak Abhiyan- 2019, is being organised under the banner of Health department and Unicef.
The Chief Minister said that about 38 districts of the state were affected by encephalitis and of these 18 were considered to be endemic and worst-affected.
“In the first phase of the campaign, the government focussed on these 18 districts. After getting positive response from these districts, we are now implementing the campaign in the remaining 17 districts,” Yogi said.
The Chief Minister said that his government was serious on tackling the menace of encephalitis.
“I had even raised the issue in Parliament when I was an MP because this disease is taking lives of children since 1978,” he said.
The state government can pat its back as the number of deaths of children due to encephalitis in BRD Medical College Hospital in Gorakhpur has come down to 19 in 2019. Government dossiers say that since the campaign was launched last year, there has been 35 per cent decline in disease burden and 65 per cent drop in mortality.
Yogi said the Health department coordinated with 12 other departments to develop this programme. He said the combined efforts of WHO, Unicef and public participation had helped in fighting this disease.
“We got success because the state government was able to increase awareness about the disease,” he said.
Yogi also said that Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was also very helpful in fighting against encephalitis.
“All 75 districts now have proper facilities for the treatment of communicable diseases like dengue, black fever and malaria in district hospitals,” he said.
UP’s Health Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said that the department was geared up to protect people against encephalitis. He said all officials had been given responsibilities and asked to hold regular meetings and launch public awareness campaigns about prevention and treatment of encephalitis.
The Chief Minister flagged off vehicles of awareness campaign and honored Dastak Yoddhas by awarding them certificates during the function.
Minister of State for Rural Development (independent charge), Dr Mahendra Singh, Minister of State for Women and Family Welfare (independent charge), Swati Singh, Chief Secretary Anup Chandra Pandey, Principal Secretary (Medical and Health) Prashant Trivedi and state head of Unicef were present on the occasion.