Central team to camp in Ground Zero of encephalitis

“We will concentrate on visiting villages and sensitising people as well as officers apart from reviewing the situation,” Dr V K Raina,Joint Director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP),who is a member of the visiting delegation,told The Indian Express from Delhi. The team will be led by Joint Secretary R S Shukla and will have Director of NVBDCP P L Joshi as its member,apart from Raina.

“Depending on the availability of time,we plan to cover maximum number of encephalitis-affected districts in the region,” Raina added.

On previous occasions,such teams visit the area only during the peak season of the encephalitis and this is for the first time that the senior officers from the Centre will be camping before the start of the encephalitis season.

It is to be noted that a Gorakhpur-based doctor had requested the Prime Minister through a letter that preparations and preventive measures to control the spread of the disease should begin from January-February,instead of few days before the actually start of the disease season in July and August. In response to the letter,the Prime Minster had assured the doctor of action.

The Central team’s visit much ahead of the peak season has been welcomed by all. “It is a good sign that this time,the Centre has realised the need to start taking the preventive measures right from the beginning of the year. We hope that state government too takes a lesson and starts planning the awareness drive as well as sensitisation activities much before the disease season begins,” said Dr R N Singh,a private practitioner who has been consistently raising the issue at the Central and state government levels.

“Since there is a huge gap in the immunisation for Japanese Encephalitis in the region,early sensitisation activity is very important,” Singh added.