Outlook – July 06, 2019

dying of AES in Muzaffarpur, has had to backtrack in face of

intense criticism, visit the hospital and announce six ambu-

lances for the institute and enhancing its ward capacity to

100. Union health and family welfare minister Harsh Vardhan
     has been criticised for reiterating his 2014 proposal of
     building a virology laboratory in Muzaffarpur, still a promise.
     Protests greeted Nitish Kumar when he visited AES patients
     to review the situation. What’s more, the epidemic has
     sparked a debate over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s free
     healthcare scheme for the poor, Ayushmann Bharat,
     launched in 2018.
     A public interest litigation has been filed
     at the Supreme Court by an advocate,
     Manohar Pratap. It claims that the meas-
     ures taken by the Bihar government are
     inappropriate and inadequate to control
     the outbreak in Muzaffarpur. It is also
     seeking appropriate directions from
     the court to the state as well as to the
     Centre for ensuring necessary medical
     equipment and support for the effective
     treatment of children suffering from en-
     cephalitis. In response to an FIR lodged
     by social activist Tamanna Hashmi, the
     chief judicial mag istrate of Muzaffarpur
     has ordered an investigation against

Vardhan and Pan dey, on grounds of negligence.

In the heat of the moment it has gone out of collective

memory that India has successfully coped with the highly

contagious avian flu and swine flu outbreaks. AES is, unfor-

tunately, dangerous, expensive and time-consuming. The

spectrum of pathogens and the diseases they can unleash

needs better surveillance and research, hospitals need not

just add beds but also expensive machinery, apart from more

staff to treat the sick, more efforts are needed to understand

patient history and symptoms. That involves complex assays,

blood tests and culture, oxygen and intravenous drips, lum-

ber puncture, neuroimaging facilities like

EEG, MRI and CT scan, which do not

come cheap.

Does India have a choice? There’s a

devastation waiting to happen anywhere

and everywhere. And the bad news is:

time is seriously running out. The cost of

not combating AES on war-footing will

be far greater than any cost of prepara-

tion. As Muliyil says, “It’s like the

Mumbai floods. We have both the knowl-

edge and the know-how to avoid the

dangers, but we won’t do it. Somewhere,

I hope better sense prevails. And the

system finds a solution”. O

heaVY daY an ward of the sri Krishna Medical College and hospital, Muzaffarpur, on June 21

Encephalitis is

dangerous and

expensive, but

the cost of not

combating it will

be far more than

preparation.

cover sTory

40 OutlOOk 8 July 2019

GeTTy imaGeS