Encephalitis has claimed 140 lives in UP

According to reports, 114 people have died of JE in the Gorakhpur Medical College  while over 150 are being treated at the hospital. As many as 74 patients are in critical condition.

The situation is so alarming that last week as many as five children died of JE in the Gorakhpur Medical College hospital within a span of 24-hours.

While the disease continues to claim lives, the state government is yet to take any concrete step to check its spread. A majority of health centres in the rural areas do not have diagnostic kits to ascertain whether the patient is suffering from JE.

“Besides, the centres are not equipped to treat the disease. The facility is available only at Gorakhpur and some other private hospitals,” said a health official. Every year JE claims thousands of lives in Gorakhpur, Deoria, Kushinagar, Basti, Maharjganj, Siddharthnagar, Sant Kabir Nagar districts of UP.