A JDU MLA exposes the unpreparedness and the apathy of Nitish Kumar government to tackle the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). In a sting operation conducted by Republic TV, a sitting JDU MLA in Muzaffarpur, Ashok Choudhary is seen exposing his government’s callousness and negligence when its come to dealing with the current crisis in the state of Bihar, which has become the epicentre of the disease’s latest outbreak.
#NitishKumarExposed | Nitish government admits failure even as death toll continues to rise due to Encephalitis. Tune in to watch the unmissable and sensational sting on Republic TV #LIVE here – https://t.co/LGCyJUEBn5
— Republic (@republic) June 24, 2019
As per the Republic TV report, the MLA could be heard saying that many lives of children could have been saved had the Nitish Kumar government acted on time. He claimed that middleman robbed the children of the basic facilities in the government hospital. Ashok Choudhary says that such a situation arises every year. The government should have been more prepared and should have pressurised the doctors in these government hospitals to be groomed to handle such a crisis, the MLA stressed. He further claimed that since 95 per cent of children suffering is poor, no one bothers.
Giving a road-map, he said that his government should have provided doctors and ambulance in the small villages, and should have shifted them to district hospitals only when they would not be treated in their villages. However, he claimed that such steps were not taken.
The hospital premises are filthy, and there have been skeletons found in SKMC hospital’s backyard, but the Bihar CM remains impassive towards the situation.
As many as 181 children have died in the state until today. In the latest, the Supreme Court has given a 7-day deadline to Nitish Kumar government to get control over the disquieting situation in Bihar.
Amid the rising death toll in the state of Bihar due to encephalitis outbreak, another shocking incident took place at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital, Muzaffarpur on June 23. A part of its roof outside ICU collapsed as the patients were rushing to the hospital.
Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha, addressing a press conference on Sunday, also blamed Nitish Kumar for the death of innocent children dying of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the state.
“Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is solely responsible for the death of innocents and small children. He is just seeing that children are dying but is doing nothing substantial for it. The whole health administration is left at the mercy of God by him,” said Kushwaha.
“The vacancies against the post of doctors are far less than required in Hospitals and health centres. Not even one doctor is sanctioned for each hospital. If he is not able to do anything then he should say sorry to the people and resign,” said Kushwaha.
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar has for all these days, refused to say anything over the deaths of children caused by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffarpur district. The Deputy CM Sushil Modi has also been silent about the outbreak. In fact, Nitish Kumar had earlier slammed the media saying it to ‘stay in limits’ and the latter asking reporters to ‘leave the press conference if they want to ask about the death of the children’.
Mediapersons repeatedly tried to put questions to him in connection with the matter, but Nitish Kumar ignored them and refused to say anything while on his way to his vehicle after attending an event here. He has, earlier too, refused to say anything on the issue.
Moreover, showing apathy towards the rising distress over the deaths due to the outbreak of the disease in Bihar, its Health minister, Mangal Pandey was caught on camera being more concerned about the India-Pakistan match rather than the deteriorating situation in the state.
A social activist named Tamanna Hashmi had filed a petition against Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey, holding them responsible for failing to control the outbreak of the disease.
The Outbreak of AES has taken away the lives of 181 children in the state. The state administration, however, is clueless about the reason that causes such a deadly disease.
The administration has blamed it on excessive heat and humidity, hypoglycemia, eating litchis on an empty stomach. However, despite the disease affecting the state every year, the questions as to why the state failed to combat this illness remained unanswered.
