Health Deptt. holds Regional Level Review & Planning Workshop on AES at Muzaffarpur

Satish Aditya

Muzaffarpur :  A Regional Level  Review and Planning Workshop on Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) was organised by State Health Department at Muzaffarpur on February 22, 2020, at a local hotel. It was addressed by Principal Secretary, Health, Sanjay Kumar.

The AES spreads mostly among children in an epidemic form in hot and humid weather in May and June months almost annually in East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Vaishali,  Sitamarhi, Darbhanga, Samastipur, Saran, Siwan, and Gopalganj  in North Bihar. In 2019, around 500  children were identified as  AES  patients  and admitted to Sri Krishna Medical College & Hospital   (SKMCH), Muzaffarpurpur, of which 97 patients had died,  according to official records of  the hospital.

Principal Secretary, Health Department, Sanjay Kumar,  reviewed the preparedness to prevent spread of AES  in May-June months this year. Civil Surgeons, Chief Medical officers, District Programme Officers ,District Malaria officers of 11 districts of north Bihar besides UNICEF experts , Divisional Commissioner,, Executive Director, State Health Society, participated  at this meeting and assessed measures to combat AES.

All the Civil Surgeons were asked to keep their infrastructure ready at Paediatric Intensive  Care Units  at the hospitals.  They were also directed to lunch  awareness programmes  in remote areas  in  AES prone districts . Saiyad  Hubbey Ali, the a UNICEF expert, said  awareness drive must be launched in  tola and villages in remote areas.

The Health  Department is fully prepared  to fight  and extend full support  for AES surveillance  this year, said  Sanjay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Health Department.. A team of  experts  from National institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience  (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, Karnataka,  will visit  primary health centres in  AES prone areas. A team of NIMHANS  had visited  SKMCH last week  and inspected department of Microbiology, Pathology, and Paediatric Intensive Care units at the hospital and  assessed the technical capacity of  the same .