Dr. Harsh VardhanUnion Minister of Health and Family Welfare reviewed the status of AES/JE cases in Bihar, today."I met Shri Mangal Pandey, Health Minister of Bihar recently and have assured him full support and assistance by the Health Ministry” he said.Elaborating on the support being extended to the State of Bihar, Dr. Harsh Vardhansaid, “A multi-specialist high level team has been constituted by the Health Ministry and deployed to Bihar. The team will reach Bihar tomorrow. Experts drawn from NCDC/NVBDCP/ ICMR/AIIMS, Patna/ Child Health Divisionof the Health Ministry are part of the Central team and will review the surge in cases of encephalopathy/ encephalitis and to assist the State in containment/ control operations. This is in addition to a Central Team which is already stationed in Muzaffarpur. They have visited various hospitals to assess the situation and support the State government”.
The newly constituted Central Team consists of the following members:
Dr. Ram Singh, Jt. Director & In - Charge, NCDC Branch at Patna.
Dr. SaurabhGoel, Asst. Director, IDSP, NCDC Delhi.
Dr. Poonam Vellamuri, Entomologist, NVBDCP.
Dr. Lokesh Tiwari, Assoc. Prof. Paediatrics, AIIMS Patna.
Dr. Arun Singh, National Advisor, RBSK, Child Health Division, MoHFW.
Dr. Krishna Pandey, Scientist F, RMRC Patna.
Currently, Sri Krishna Medical College and hospital, Muzaffarpur has 22 admitted cases of fever, hypoglycemia and unconsciousness of which 11 cases have been admitted today. No death has not reported due to hypoglycemia, today.The Health Minister also said that the Health Ministry is coordinating with the Ministry of Women and Child Development for distribution of nutritious food with glucose in the meals to prevent development of AES.