Bihar the state which holds most prestigious status in our minds in terms of education as well as rich culture and a great history of Magadh. But in the recent days Bihar came into the highlights not this time for an exciting reason but for a really tragic one. Bihar’s state health services got murdered by a kind of Viral called Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). It sounds weird but yes that’s true the Children which were dead they are the martyrs of war between State Health Services of Bihar and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). They just lost the battle in between this. Reportedly 150 Childrens died till the article was written.
What is Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)?
According to Vikaspedia the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) including Japanese Encephalitis (JE) is a group of clinically similar neurologic manifestation caused by several different viruses, bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochetes, chemical/ toxins etc. The outbreak of JE usually coincides with the monsoon and post monsoon period when the density of mosquitoes increases while encephalitis due to other viruses specially enteric-viruses occurs throughout the year as it is a water borne disease.
http://vikaspedia.in/health/diseases/vector-borne-diseases/acute-encephalitis-syndrome
If it’s been defined in simple terms then Jagran Josh states that Encephalitis is an inflammation caused in the layers of tissue or membranes covering the brain. It is also known as acute viral encephalitis or aseptic encephalitis and in hindi Chamki Fever. Inflammation can be swelling or irritation in the brain.
However, Wikipedia suggests that Encephalitis is inflammation of the brain. Severity is variable.Symptoms may include headache, fever, confusion, a stiff neck, and vomiting.Complications may include seizures, hallucinations, trouble speaking, memory problems, and problems with hearing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis
What makes the Situation much more Worse?
The reason which worsen the situation is the management and also the negligence towards health services. Recently Central Government launches Ayushman Bharat Yojana or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) or National Health Protection Scheme. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayushman_Bharat_Yojana) This scheme expected to provide better health care services to poor and seems to be dream scheme fo Prime Minister Narender Modi but poor management collapses the same scheme in just months. If we just talk about Bihar only then we can see there are nearly 648 hospitals are empaneled under Ayushman Bharat and 28 in Muzaffarnagar only but we all can see the results. It is not that government does not want to or had not taken any steps in the past for the betterment of public but the point is we needed an effective monitoring system which monitors the policies of government on regular basis and keep a record for the same. The second thing which is responsible for such incidents is that no one seems to make himself accountable for the same We have seen in media How the health minister of Bohar kept asking the scores of India Pakistan match in between the press conference on the issue but still he is on the designation till.
Precautionary steps that can be taken to stop it further?
The best part about our system is that we all debate a topic just after the things happened. We need to change this mindset first we have to look into all aspects of the society and not just a look but also a clear understanding of the situation needs to be developed. The main reason of this kind of disease are Malnutrition and cleanliness. The Government needs to take reasonable actions towards this and not only action as i said with a monitoring panel as well. In UP the same kind of disease laid many children dead but the UP government tightens its seat belt right after it and provides vaccination for the same in the expected areas in eastern Uttar Pradesh so Why not Nitish Government in Bihar done all this which be able to curb the situation or at least lower the death tolls.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (SBA) or Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swachh_Bharat_mission) another dream project of Narender Modi government aiming to clean up the country but what have we achieved are just some photographs by eminent leaders and their colleagues nothing had changed or its too little so here comes the questions of management and accountability where it is? Good Management is the best way to curb such situations. Also not only the government but also citizens are very much responsible for such incidents happen again and again. We have seen that reports of Bihar that some of the villagers refused for vaccinations on basis of superstition which increases the chances for such critical situations. Not only the remote areas but also in the cities How much of us act responsibly towards cleanliness we have to change this is need of the hour.
At last, one can only say that may soul of dead children’s rest in peace. We can’t revert the mishap but can cure the future by taking precautionary measures. It does not matters how much and how long I write but has this make any difference matters the most? We have seen changes of heaven to hell in this tragic and unhappy moment. Failure of authorities, irresponsible media reporting how a reputed media personnel shouting of a Doctor in ICU, reckless form of leadership we have seen all and the best part is that the most prominent leader also seems to be the best orator had not said a single word on this till this article completed. (https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-narendra-modi-tweets-for-injured-cricketer-but-not-bihar-children-says-rjd-leader-manoj-k-jha-2057119)
Our Thoughts 