Tag: Bihar

100 Kids Have Died Due To Encephalitis In Bihar, Govt Seems Clueless About How To Save Them

Source: indiatimes.com

The death toll due to the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome outbreak in Bihar has reached 100 and despite claims made by state government, the number of deaths are increasing with more and more infected children rushing to the hospitals.

Muzzafurpur district is mainly affected by the outbreak and 83 children have succumbed to Encephalitis at Sri Krishna Medical College while 17 died at Kejriwal hospital. The union health minister Harsh Vardhan visited the Muzaffarpur yesterday  and took stock of the situation. Different media reports said that the minister was shown black flags. However, the minister said he has spoken to  “every concerned individual about this issue”.

The situation turned grim when a five year od child while three minsiters around and this enraged the anger of the parents of the children and they confronted the ministers. Vardhan, however, later held a meeting and assured a research that would be undertaken to ascertain the cause of the disease to order any such outbreak in future. He was quoted News18. 

“I assure the people of the area, especially the affected families, that the government will extend all possible help and measures to the state government,” Vardhan said.

Despite all problems and considering the seriousness of this disease, I appreciate the efforts put in by the doctors to ensure efficient treatment to everyone,” he added.

Nitish Kumar, the CM had also expressed grief over the deaths of the children and announced “an ex gratia payment of Rs. 4 lakh to the next of the kin of those who have died”. The lack of awareness about his to tackle the decease is also the reason for outbreak, the CM said.

The health department of the state has cited hypoglycaemia in which the blood sugar level go down as the main reason behind the deaths of the children. Acute Encephalitis Syndrome is a viral diseases that has symptoms like high fever, convulsions and headaches.

Critical Shortage of Blood in Bihar

Source: .patnadaily.com

On June 14th, World Blood Donor Day is celebrated worldwide! Thousands of donors will give their valuable blood, but unfortunately, it’s not nearly enough! The World Health Organization (WHO) identifies Bihar as a state that collects a very low amount of blood annually with only 20% of the estimated requirements being donated!

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can change this! It’s as simple as coming forward to donate blood and creating a new future for Bihar. Not only can we save so many lives, but it’s also the duty of every healthy citizen! Blood cannot be artificially manufactured by any means, so, it’s necessary to get blood directly from a donor. We will need a great number of volunteers, but Bihar can do it.

Who can donate blood?

Donors may be allowed to donate blood or blood components, like homologous, plasma, platelet, red blood cells, and granulocytes. Any donor (male or female) between 18 to 60, with a weight of more than 45 kg, is allowed to donate a minimum of one unit (350 ml to 450 ml) of blood once every three months. Almost anyone can donate blood at any time with the assistance of blood banks! A blood bank collects and stores blood and its components for future use. They properly examine the blood before transfusion to avoid spreading infectious disease. Blood banks are completely run by volunteers and donations so even if you are ineligible to donate blood, you can still help out in a variety of ways!

Why should I donate?

Blood donations are necessary for an emergency, but it also has plenty of hidden benefits as well! Before donating blood, donors usually will undergo a pre-donation screening which includes testing for Hepatitis, HIV, Syphilis, and HTLV. This can help the donor find any health concerns and is usually provided by the blood banks. In addition, donating blood can reduce the excess level of iron in the body. Of course, the donor can feel proud and good about themselves for this selfless act!

If a patient needs blood for their own future surgery, they are eligible to donate blood for themselves in a procedure known as autologous blood donation. Blood banks will store their blood until the surgery. This can help cut down on the overall need for blood!

Where should I donate?

India has more than 2000 licensed blood banks. Many people really want to donate blood to save lives. But, with that many choices, people become confused to make the right decision and moreover, they were not aware of it. In the capital of Bihar, Patna, Jeevan Rekha Blood Bank, National Blood Bank & Research Centre, and Bharat Blood Bank are the three best 24-hours blood banks identified by independent ranking website Three Best Rated® using their 50-point inspection.

From today, every individual in Bihar should make a resolution to donate blood to save lives! It’s not only our responsibility, but it’s also our duty!

In Bihar, doctors treat patients on floor as hospital tries to cope with rush

Source:hindustantimes.com

So chock-a-block are the wards at Muzaffarpur’s Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital with patients suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) that doctors are being forced to treat children on the floor.

At least 43 of the 50 deaths due to AES in Bihar have taken place at this hospital, with Muzaffarpur being the epicentre of the outbreak. Ten other districts have also been affected.

Sri Krishna hospital medical superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said, “We have an in-patient bed strength of only 610 whereas the number of patients admitted to our hospital is around 876. We do not refuse any patient, so we put mattresses to treat them on the floor.”

To cope with the rush of patients, the superintendent has converted all 20 beds of the intensive care unit (ICU) into paediatric intensive care units (PICU).

“If we come across patients, who need to be admitted to ICU, we will admit them in the coronary care unit (CCU). Against 14 existing beds at our PICU, I have converted all our 20 ICU beds into PICU, taking the number of beds in PICU up to 34,” Shahi said.

“Given the disease burden, even the central team which is here has suggested increasing the number of PICU beds to 100,” he added.

The government has ensured the availability of all drugs free of cost to AES patients. Sri Krishna hospital is also providing food to patients as well as their attendants. “Though we are not supposed to provide food to patients in PICU, on the advice of health minister Mangal Pandey and principal secretary, health, Sanjay Kumar, I am supplying milk, supplements, fruit, bread and eggs to all AES patients and their attendants on humanitarian grounds,” said Shahi.

The parents of some children being treated at the hospital are satisfied with the facilities provided. Some of them, including Md Aslam Madan Sahni, Ram Bharos Thakur and Gayatri Devi, are hoping the hospital will start supplying diapers free of cost too.

Yogi Adityanath asks authorities to be on guards after brain fever deaths in Bihar

Source: indiatoday.in

Amid several deaths in Bihar due to brain fever, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday asked state health authorities to be on guards against any such eventuality.

Yogi Adityanath cautioned the authorities during a meeting to review the functioning of the state’s medical, health and family welfare departments at Lok Bhavan in Lucknow.

“Keeping in view of 35 deaths in neighbouring Bihar due to encephalitis, there should be proper planning and we need to be prepared for any such disaster,” said the chief minister.

Yogi Adityanath also wanted all doctors and hospital staffers in the state to treat patients with dignity and asked chief medical officers to visit their respective hospital wards regularly and meet the patents.

Chief medical officers should interact with every patient admitted to the hospital and regularly visit the patient wards, Yogi Adityanath said.

“We have to be committed towards every citizen of the state for his or her better treatment without discrimination,” Yogi Adityanath said.

“For a better treatment of patients, the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) should depute a doctor as a nodal officer in every hospital and make them responsible for monitoring every issue related to the hospital and patients,” Yogi Adityanath added.

Yogi Adityanath also instructed officials to reduce the response time to calls for ambulance service on telephone number 108 and review the health-related government schemes every fortnight.

“During the last two years, 250 life support ambulances were made available to save the lives of people. Mobile medical vans are also working in the remote areas for the same,” the chief minister pointed out.

The chief minister also expressed satisfaction over the improvement of medical facilities in the state’s hospital over the last two years during his tenure.

“Everyone plays a vital role and we all should work in a team to get the best result. Twenty-five years ago, district hospitals were operated very well but there has been a continuous decline in the health facilities,” Yogi Adityanath said.

“For the past two years, we have, however, tried to correct the system. Earlier we saw that medicines were not available in hospitals, but for the past two years there has been a major positive change,” Yogi Adityanath added.

The chief minister also emphasised upon the need of regular scrutiny of the functioning of hospitals and community health centres.

“The CMOs and other officers of the Health Department of every district should go to the field and examine the functioning of hospitals and community centres,” Yogi Adityanath said.

Yogi Adityanath also asked authorities to keep an eye over the supply of medicines to hospitals so that its availability in never disrupted.

New policy set to redraw Bihar’s sand mine map

Source: hindustantimes.com

The state government is drafting the Bihar State Sand Mining Policy 2019, a move required to incorporate the new rules of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change. The new policy will also be tailored after taking into account the problems faced by the state government while handling leased out sand ghats in the past five years.

The last time a Bihar sand mining policy was made was in 2013. After Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000, the latter has been left with only a few commercially valuable minerals. Besides stone quarrying, royalty from sand mining gives the state government a handsome income. The state mines and geology department has set a target of earning Rs 900 crore in 2019.

Sand mining has been a controversial issue in Bihar. Illegal sand mining has led to major crimes and gang wars in the state.

On June 2, chief minister Nitish Kumar reshuffled the portfolio of various ministers, including mines and geology minister Vinod Kumar Singh, who was replaced by Brajkishore Bind. Sources said that the CM was taking an interest in vetting the new sand mining policy and suggesting changes in it.

Principal secretary, mines and geology department, Harjot Kaur Bamhrah, said that the last policy was of a five-year term, and so there was a need to draft a new policy. “The policy is in the draft stage and a presentation will be made to the higher authorities for vetting,” she said.

Sand ‘districts’ to be redrawn

Sources said that in the new sand mining policy, the mines and geology department, in order to drive up earnings, proposes to increase the number of sand mining units in Bihar. At present, out of 38 districts, the department has divided the state into 25 districts, according to mining units of sand.

“Districts such as Patna, Bhopur, and Saran are clubbed as one unit. Aurangabad and Rohtas are another unit. And Lakhisarai and Jamui are yet another unit. This has been done for mining purpose,” said a source.

However, under the new draft policy, there is a proposal to cut the sand mining ‘districts’ number to 15, but increase the sand mining sites within each unit. “Suppose a district has seven rivers, mining permission at each river will be given to different parties,” they added.

This would give an opportunity to small players to enter the river sand mining business and break the monopoly of big players, said the sources.

Normally, when a lessee gets sand mining licence for a district comprising many rivers, the mining company does not turn its attention to the small river(s) in the district, and gets busy with mining at the big river where the sand yield is more. “The smaller rivers are neglected in the districts, reducing the earnings of the department,” said sources, adding that allotment of more sites and to multiple mining companies would increase the earnings of the department.

Greener mining rules

The new sand mining policy would also incorporate the changes in environment laws, as proposed by the Centre. “The new policy will include the new guidelines of NGT and the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change. The guidelines of NGT are very exhaustive; work is on to incorporate them in the new draft policy,” said a source.

Principal secretary Bamhrah said that the presentation of the new policy would be made to the new mines and geology minister and later approved by the state cabinet. “Hopefully, the new sand mining policy will be in place in the next two months,” she said.

Over 50 Children Have Died of Suspected Japanese Encephalitis in Bihar

Source: newsclick.in

Patna: In the last nine days, several children have died in North Bihar of suspected Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). On Monday alone, about 20 children reportedly died, while three deaths were reported early Tuesday in Muzaffarpur town hospitals. As per reports, five five children died in two villages — Harvanshpur Paschim and Khirkhaua under Bhagwanpur police station in Vaishali district — in last the 24 hours due to symptoms similar to AES after being admitted to hospital.

As helpless parents look on, dozens of children are still battling for their lives with symptoms similar to AES and are undergoing treatment at two hospitals in Muzaffarpur. So far, the disease has already claimed the lives of 53 children, but the state government is playing these deaths down by claiming that these were due to hypoglycaemia.

In Muzaffarpur, the state government-owned Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) and private Kejriwal Hospital, where most of deaths took, have names and address of the victims. But state government, particularly the health department, is not prepared to accept this reality.

Meanwhile, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey has denied that these deaths were due to AES. Pandey, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, said that only 11 children had died since June 2 and most of the deaths were due to hypoglycaemia, adding that only one child died due to Japanese encephalitis. “There is a situation of misconception in connection with deaths of children in Muzaffarpur. We have got information of deaths due to hypoglycaemia, except one death due to JE,” he was reported as saying.

AES cases have surfaced in Bihar in such a large number after a gap of three years. Last year, a total 40 cases of AES were reported in which seven deaths occurred.

But this year, the situation is alarming, said sources. This can be gauged from the fact that the two paediatric intensive care units at SKMCH are full and the hospital authorities were forced to open a third PICU to accommodate fresh cases. Ironically, with heavy rush of seriously ill children on Monday, there were no bed available to admit new suspected AES cases in the PICU the hospital and officials had to get the general ICU vacated by shifting patients to other wards.

“We have been admitting seriously ill children in PICU and the general ICU to provide treatment in view of the situation and regular arrival of new patients” SKMCH’s chief medical officer, S P Singh, said.

SKMCH superintendent Sunil Kumar Shahi said “It took us by surprise. We hardly expected such a bounce back this year”.

Helpless parents, after failing to get their seriously ill children admitted in SKMCH, are left with no option but to rush to privately run Kejriwal Hospital in Muzaffarpur.

Most of the children with suspected AES belonging to the rural poor section (dalit, other backward classes and extremely backward classes) of the population in Muzaffarpur and the neighbouring districts of Vaishali, Sitamarhi, Samastipur, Sheohar, East and West Champaran.

Locally known as Chamki Bukhar or Mastishk Bukhar, AES is widely seen as a deadly disease for children in flood-prone North Bihar districts. While the cause of deaths of children may be AES or any other, Sanjay Kumar, the principal secretary in the health department, reiterated that the deaths this year had occurred due to hypoglycaemia, resulting from high heat and humidity.

Kumar explained that when children play in the open under the scorching sun, it leads to dehydration and affects their intake of food and water, leading to hypoglycaemia.

According to him, Bihar had reported 34 cases of hypoglycaemia, resulting in 10 deaths till date this year, while one death was due to dyselectrolytemia (electrolyte imbalance).

However, with increasing cases of suspected AES, the state government has introduced a verbal autopsy form to fix responsibility for any lapses in treatment and referral. “We have a standard operating procedure for treatment of AES”, he added.

The health department has also issued an advisory urging parents to prevent their children from playing in the open under the sun at a time when the temperature was hovering between 42 to 43 degrees Celsius.

Interestingly, contrary to the denial of children deaths due to AES by a top health department officer, chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday at a press conference, in reply to question on child deaths due to AES in Muzaffarpur, said the health department had been keeping a close watch on the situation. “Ahead of the rains (monsoon) ,every year this disease (yeh bimari) creates havoc. It is a matter of concern that every year children are dying due to it”, he said.

The chief minister said the health department had taken steps to contain the disease and was sensitising the people about measures to prevent it.

According to doctors, AES is a severe stage of encephalitis characterised by inflammation of the brain. The disease is transmitted through mosquito bites, leading to infection that causes high fever.

“Every year, encephalitis hits Muzaffarpur, Gaya and other neighbouring districts in May or June. But this year it seems to have affected a large number of children,” a health department official said.

Bihar: 14 kids die in Muzaffarpur due to Encephalitis, over dozen admitted to hospitals

Source: financialexpress.com

At least 14 children have died in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and over a dozen have been admitted to different city hospitals with high fever and other symptoms of the disease, news agency ANI reported. Sunil Shahi, Superintendent of Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur, confirmed the death toll and number of children admitted to the hospital with symptoms of encephalitis this year.

“We have received 38 patients so far, most of them have a deficiency of glucose in their blood. The overall casualty till now is 14,” he said. Encephalitis is a viral infection which causes fever and headache. It causes a sudden loss in the level of sugar in the body and affects the life-supporting function in a minor’s body. This time, the outbreak has gone beyond the limits of Muzzaffarpur with many children being diagnosed with the syndrome in Vaishali, Sheohar as well as the East and West Champaran districts.

State Health minister Mangal Pandey said that all efforts are underway to bring the situation under control. “All arrangements have been made to check the outbreak of the disease,” he said.

Dr Gopal Sahni, head of Critical Care Unit at SKMCH said that the outbreak is mostly reported just ahead of the arrival of Monsoon when heat and the humidity rise. The humidity level has hovered around 50% in Muzaffarpur for the last few days while thge tempertaure stayed around the 40-degree mark.

Muzaffarpur Civil Surgeon Dr SP Singh said that a team of health department recently visited the SKMCH and held a high-level meeting with doctors on the outbreak.

The epidemic impacts children every year in the north Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh regions. According to UP government’s claim, 187 deaths were reported due to encephalitis in 2018 against 553 such deaths in 2017. In Bihar, it claimed over a dozen lives.

Gates Foundation to support Bihar beyond 2021, says health minister

Source: hindustantimes.com

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), has accepted in principle to continue support to the Bihar government in the health sector beyond 2021, based on the government’s long-term plan for health system reforms.

This follows the request by Bihar health minister Mangal Pandey for extension of support. Pandey met Melida Gates on the sidelines of the Women Deliver 2019 conference at Vancouver in Canada, which ended on June 6.

The co-chair of the BMGF said that the foundation was committed to supporting the Bihar government beyond 2021 and emphasised that the state government should have long-term health system transformation plan in place.

“Based on the government’s plan, it would become clear as to what would be the nature of support the government needs and how best the BMGF can provide it,” said the minister quoting the co-chair.

Pandey, on behalf of chief minister Nitish Kumar, also extended an invitation to Bill and Melinda Gates to visit Bihar to see the changes that have taken place in the state’s health sector. “During the visit, the government would be happy to share the long-term transformation plan with the BMGF leadership, the minister told the co-chair,” he added.

Principal secretary, department of health, Sanjay Kumar was present at the discussion.

Pandey said that the health system transformation was a long-term process and owing to the government’s commitment to achieve Sustainable Development Goal by 2030, the Foundation should support the department of health beyond 2021 or at least till 2025.

The minister said that Melinda told the Bihar delegation that the ongoing project in the state was very close to her and Bill Gates’s heart. “Due to multiple competing priorities, they were not able to visit Bihar in the recent past. But through the Gates Foundation team in India they received regular updates,” he added.

‘Bihar Suno Nahin Dekho’: How these women are trying to change perception about Bihar

Source: indiatvnews.com

The very mention of Bihar brings images of an under-developed society into the mind — when the state clearly has emerged as one of the fastest growing regions in India, clocking over 10 per cent annual growth for the past decade.

According to the Bihar Economic Survey, in 2016-17, the growth rate was 11.3 per cent, while the national average was 7 per cent.

Rapid growth in infrastructure, energy and communication sectors and public investment in roads played a major role in bringing the turnaround. Other important factor that contributed in the spurt of opportunities was the plethora of campaigners who worked tirelessly for changing the perception about Bihar.

Amongst the campaigners are two women — Yashi Malviya and Sukriti Yadav — who took it upon themselves to inform the world how beautiful Bihar can be.

The two women, both of them journalists, began a campaign through their website ‘Bihar Bytes’ and travelled to as many as 32 districts of Bihar. From their travel was born #biharsunonahidekho — capturing the essence of the state.

Under the hashtag, they ran video clips, photographs and stories about several unexplored places of Bihar — places that can be on the bucket lists of tourists — on the social media . 

“One fine day, we Googled Bihar and we were shocked to see that there were almost no good images of the state on the internet. Bihar was perceived in a negative light. And there on we took it upon us to work and improve the image of the state,” Yashi Malviya, co-founder at Bihat Bytes, said.

Speaking to India TV, Sukriti Yadav, co-founder at Bihar Bytes, said, “I have heard several people say there was no place to visit in Bihar. We visited a lot of places which were not promoted. Manjhar Kund, Tutla Bhawani waterfall, Rohtasgarh Fort, Panth Pakkar, Darbhanga Fort, Rajnagar Palace, and others were on our list. We collected relevant data about the places to spread the word through social media, our website and various travel and blogger meet-ups.”

Perhaps a start is made — to attract people from across the world and the Bihari diaspora to come to explore the state.  

The two campaigners now only hope that they bring a change in how Bihar is perceived in India and across the world.

“I have experienced a whole new world and a different side of Bihar which had been neglected. And I want everyone to visit those places. We have heard it enough that Bihar is a backward state. We believe that increase in tourism will give a boost to employment and economic growth of the state,” Sukriti signed off. 

As Heat Intensifies and Hand Pumps Dry Up, Districts in Bihar Grapple with Drinking Water Crisis

Source: news18.com

Patna: Sixty-year-old Fula Devi, a resident of Shahpur Kasim village in Vaishali district in Bihar, stares at tough days ahead.

Her eyes well up as she talks about how her crops have been destroyed due to a lack of water.

“I have lost all my cash crops spread over 10 kathas of land (17,000 sq ft) and incurred losses worth more than Rs 25,000. Our misery does not end here. We have to struggle for drinking water as well. All the hand pumps have dried up here,” she says.

Flood-prone Bihar is known for an abundance of water resources. However, several districts are facing an acute water crises this summer due to mismanagement of water bodies and a population boom. The water table has gone below 250 feet from the ground level and hand pumps and tube wells, the main sources of water for drinking and irrigation in most villages, have also dried up.

Even as locals are struggling to cope with this crisis, farmers are the worst affected. Given the non-availability of irrigation water and intense heat, their crops are fighting for survival. Their livestock does not get required quantities of drinking water either.

Shahpur Kasim is one of the many villages in Vaishali district where people are grappling with such a crisis. Villagers here before never faced such a situation until last year since tube-wells and hand pumps always had water at 55 feet.

The situation has now turned grave as the water table has dipped to 250 feet, with government hand pumps failing to pull water from the depth.

In Brahmapur village in the same district, underground water tanks have been constructed at 20-50 feet and water motors have been installed to extricate water, which is then hand-pumped for consumption.

Collecting drinking water has turned into a nightmare for villagers. Here, women flock to get a few buckets of muddy water for their daily activities.

Fewer wells are left with water due to the onslaught of tube-wells and hand pumps.

While a few parts of the district receive drinking water through tankers sent by the government, others now buy the same.

Chandan Kumar is another victim incurring heavy losses as his mango orchard and lychee plantation have completely dried up.

Kumar had planted the crops in 10 acres of land, but as there has been hardly any yield, he incurred losses worth Rs 5 lakh.

“The crisis is severe because the water level has gone down severely. No one had ever imagined that tube-wells in the village could become defunct like hand pumps as they were bored 100-200 feet below ground level,” he says.

While several villages in Lalganj block of Vaishali district face a similar crisis, the situation is the worst in Sirsa.

Besides the mango and lychee orchards, wheat sown on hectares of lands have perished due to a fall in water levels in the region.

Some of the well-off villagers have installed submersible pumps at 350 feet below the ground level to get drinking water.

Rajeshwar Singh, who has a fish pond in Sirsa village, uses a submersible pump. “We were left with no other option as our ponds were drying up and the fish had started dying. There was a drinking water crisis as well,” he says.

In the same village, Mushar Tola has been badly hit as well. Here, elderly people walk up to a kilometre to carry potable water home.

The Jal Nal Yojana (water and tap scheme) devised to provide potable water to every household in the state has failed due to improper implementation and deep-rooted corruption. The scheme has also seen wastage of water.

According to its provisions, every APL (above poverty line) family would be charged a water tax of Rs 60 a month, while BPL (below poverty line) families would have to pay Rs 30 every month.

The government had also decided to provide filtered drinking water to areas with high levels of arsenic and iron in the water.

The district public health engineering (PHE) department has devised a long-term plan towards water conservation and usage. As part of the project, the department plans to install iron containers near one-acre farms to collect water during rain.

Executive engineer (PHE) Manoj Kumar told News18, “There is a no clear policy on the part of the government regarding the installation of submersible pumps, the rampant use of which is further taking down groundwater. The department is planning to launch an awareness programme on water usage and its conservation in the district and trying to make it a part of the school curriculum.”

Vaishali usually gets 1,168mm of rain annually. But last year, it saw a deficit of 52.7% — the highest in any district in the state.

State PHE Minister Vinod Narayan Jha, who is reportedly taking stock of the prevailing situation on a daily basis, at a recent press conference said, “The department is well prepared to meet any challenge thrown by deficit rainfall in districts. We are monitoring the groundwater table reports on a daily basis.”

Jha said 25 districts in the state are drought-affected and the government has identified 37,000 non-functional hand pumps of which 15,010 have been repaired and 3,440 replaced.