Congress terms AES deaths national horror, targets Nitish govt

A doctor treats a child showing symptoms of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome at a hospital in Muzaffarpur on Sunday. (PTI)

The Congress on Wednesday targeted the Bihar government for the deaths of over 140 children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), terming the outbreak a “national horror”. The party demanded that the Union government assign a team of doctors and have a national action programme to tackle the problem.

Congress spokesperson and Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi said parents of children suffering from AES are running from primary healthcare centres to hospitals where they are told there are not enough beds or medicines. He said, “it is a sorry state of affairs and we feel that the state government in Bihar has been both unprepared and insensitive”.

“We can see the insensitivity in the remarks of the state Health Minister, when he is asking for cricket score in the middle of important meeting…” he said.