Reiterating his government’s commitment to improve health care facilities in Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said time has come to eradicate deadly encephalitis as it is taking lives of innocent children on the regular basis.
He was inaugurating the “Dastak Campaign against Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrom (AES)” which was launched on Monday by UP Government in collaboration with UNICEF. He also released a CD, sanitary kit and publicity material on this occasion.
“The encephalitis affects children up to 15 years of age. This is our commitment to protect them from this deadly disease so that these children too can play an active role in nation building,” Yogi said in his address.
Chief Minister said that 38 districts of Uttar Pradesh are affected with AES and JE. To control this disease health department has been made the nodal agency and other departments like urban development, Panchayati Raj, Women and Child Welfare, Rural Development, Medical Education, Animal Husbandry and basic education departments will work under them.
A detailed programme has been prepared to combat Encephalitis. The vaccination work will be completed by March-April 2018. As this disease is vector borne so besides vaccination a sanitation drive will also be launched. People will be made aware to keep their surroundings clean. The educational institutions as well as NGOs will be asked to join hands, he said.
“Mal-nourishment is another cause of spread of this disease. Therefore, pregnant women, lactating mothers and infants should get nutritious food. Here the role of ICDS department is very important. The aanganwadi workers will also be involved in this work. The school children will also be taught about this dreaded disease,” Yogi said.
He also asked the medical department to provide more ventilators and warmers in the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur. “Para-medic staff should also be trained to combat this disease,” he said.
Health Minister Dr Sidharthnath Singh and Medical College Minister Ashutosh tendon also spoke on this occasion.