While the official death toll of children due to Japanese Encephalitis (JE) rose to 32 on Wednesday, former Congress MP of Nabarangpur Pradeep Majhi demonstrated in front of the office of Malkangiri Collector with the bodies. Two more children died at Malkangiri district hospital, one late last night and another at early morning. However, unofficial sources alleged that another child died while being transported to Malkangiri district hospital.
At around 6.30 a.m., Mr Majhi holding the body of a child walked from the Malkangiri district hospital along with some of his supporters to the office of the District Collector. There he sat on dharna along with the bodies of two children. He alleged that although cases of JE and deaths were continuing in the district since 2011, there is no check on them due to the callousness of the Odisha government. He alleged that since 2011, JE has claimed lives of at least 160 children in the district, but the government has failed to vaccinate them against the disease.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr Majhi said his main demand was immediate shifting of the infected children to AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, from Malkangiri as the district hospital lacked proper infrastructure. “I want the State government to use a chopper for fast transportation of patients,” he added.
He was also critical of the government over large scale vacancies of doctors in the Malkangiri district. He said that although there are 97 sanctioned posts of government doctors in the district, 68 posts were lying vacant. His another major demand was compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of each dead child.
Mr Majhi withdrew his agitation in the afternoon after discussions with the Malkangiri District Collector. Meanwhile, the administration has cancelled Dusshera holidays of all government officials in the district. At least 32 district villages are now affected by JE which has no definite remedy yet.
State Health secretary Arati Ahuja told newsmen in Bhubaneswar that the Centre has advised to begin vaccination against JE after November. As pigs are carriers of the JE virus, steps are being taken to stop sale and consumption of pork by the villagers. Sale of pigs is being stopped as it can lead to transfer of JE from one area to another.
Special enclosures for pigs are to be constructed one to two kilometres outside the villages under MGNREGA to isolate the animals from humans. Culex mosquitoes are the vector of this disease. Around 50,000 medicated mosquito nets have been distributed in the affected villages. Ms Ahuja claimed that mosquito population has been drastically reduced due to fogging and other sanitary activities in these villages. Besides, bio-larvicides are being sprayed on water bodies to kill mosquito larvae.