Encephalitis — brain fever — which has wrecked havoc in eastern India claiming hundreds of lives every year, including those of small children and remains un-tackled for decades, will be made a notifiable diseases, assured the Government in the lok Sabha on Thursday, as members raised issues of similar threats faced in their States.
Replying to a Calling Attention Motion where members expressed their concern over casual approach towards alarming spread of Japanese Encephalitis and dengue, Health Minister JP Nadda also accepted the demand of two BJP members that the Gorakhpur-based unit of National Institute of Virology, Pune, be upgraded as a regional centre.
A notifiable disease is required by law to be reported to authorities, allowing them to prepare in time to take preventive measures in time.
The disease has raised its head since 1978 but very little measures have been made to control, cure and root out its deadly spread, particularly in eastern Uttar Pradesh, BJP members said and blamed the Uttar Pradesh Government for its alleged callousness.
Speaking on the Motion, Yogi Adityanath (BJP) said over 125 children have died in BRD Hospital, Gorakhpur, alone this year due to the disease, which is also known as brain fever, and such deaths have been happening year after year since 1978.
Innocent children in eastern UP have become “guinea pigs” and the region a “laboratory”, he said doctors were doing rounds without any success in checking the disease.
“The failure is visible in tackling the disease,” he said wondering if polio and smallpox can be eradicated, then why not encephalitis, which is vector-borne and water-borne disease.
Nadda sought to lay the blame at the doors at the state governments, particularly the UP Government, saying over Rs 50 crore given to it for vector-borne disease control was lying unspent this year. Agreeing to demands, he said, “We will make it a notifiable disease.”
Mulayam Singh Yadav said the disease has been affecting the State for decades and it was primarily for the Centre to take preventive measures.