Dreaded encephalitis has continued to take its toll on West Bengal while an utterly unprepared State Government has continued to “monitor the situation” helplessly.
The State reported six more deaths on Wednesday taking the toll to 206 since January. It is another matter that the Health Department gave a more conservative report of 155 deaths taking into consideration only the past a few months.
What tended to complicate the situation were the reports that junior doctors from the North Bengal Medical College were fleeing the hostels out of fear. “If this continues to happen then the healthy infrastructure will collapse completely” said a Health Department official in Kolkata. The NBMC alone has reported more than 100 deaths in the past two months.