NEW DELHI – Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Harsh Vardhan, upon his return from Muzaffarpur, has “reviewed” the situation arising from the reported cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome/Japanese Encephalitis in Bihar in a high-level meeting on Monday.
Vardhan during his review visit on Sunday ‘assured’ the state about establishing setting up state-of-the-art multi-disciplinary research centre at Muzaffarpur.
Interestingly, he made the same promise five years ago in 2014 but failed to even initiate the ground work for the promised virology lab.
On June 21, 2014, Harsh Vardhan had announced in Muzaffarpur that the Central government would set up medical research units at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Muzaffarpur, and Darbhanga Medical College Hospital to carry out research work for prevention and cure of certain diseases very common in this region.
The minister had visited SKMCH and Kejriwal Hospital to see the condition of children suffering from acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) and promised that Centre would help the Bihar government in setting up virological research laboratories at Gaya, Bettiah, Muzaffarpur, Pawapuri and Bhagalpur medical colleges soon to find out the basic reasons of different diseases caused by virus.
He had also announced that the Union government would also help Bihar to start training at primary health centres (PHCs) in the state to provide basic medical treatment to patients as well as creating awareness among the parents of AES patients regarding measures to prevent the disease.
