(Every year in Mansoon the number of cases due to encephalitis rises exponentially in the Gorakhpur region. This time already in a health crisis struggling with COVID19 the situation, is daunting because of the two-front battle. Resharing this article, written by Anubhav Kumar in November 2017 for The Analysis, to understand the mystery of Encephalitis after the tragic death of 70 infants )
"When
central government bestowed Gorakhpur with AIIMS last year as they promised one
in purvanchal instead of Varanasi (PM’s Constituency), it came as surprise to
many but for those who have known this region for long, it was need of the hour to
curb the alarming situation persistent since the late ’80s, Encephalitis or
popularly called Japanese Encephalitis.
Cut
to the Year 2017, it would go down in Indian history for two most mooted people and
place, Yogi Aditya Nath and Gorakhpur both fiduciarily related to each other.
Why so? Well It is unfortunate that this August, close to 70 infants died in
Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College within 24 hours allegedly due to a shortage of
oxygen supply. The Country started mourning only when one of the ministers said that
it is common, death of infants in monsoon in the Gorakhpur region, it took anger
out of every common citizen. But would you be shocked if I were to say, yes it
is true? Will it be surprising to know that due to this mishap Gorakhpur
finally got its due attention on this issue? Well not justifying deaths in any
circumstances but this incident may be an "unfortunate" blessing in disguise as it was a tight slap
on administration, government, and people of Gorakhpur as to date 6500 infants
have died in this region since 1978 due to this deadly disease as BBC Reports.
(http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-19825565
)
THE LEGACY OF ENCEPHALITIS:
While
this deadly disease has its presence around the world, this region is worst
globally affected. it first surfaced in 1978 and till now the death toll of
infants is daunting. Children aged 0-15 are worst affected as their immune
system is considerably weak. Japanese Encephalitis or “Navki Bimari” is a
mosquito-borne disease spread majorly due to water contamination and allegedly
by a virus caused by Pigs and Birds. JE is still incurable. An unverified
source says that last year few Japanese scientists conducted a test and found a
new type of virus which changes its shape and can’t be determined, this
corroborates with a doctor’s statement given back in 2006
“In the past six years, children have been
dying of other forms of viral encephalitis, the exact cause of which is
unclear.” (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-south-asia-15269441
)
The
monumental deaths hence are not shocking but the alarming situation is almost
30 years now it couldn’t be curbed. In year 2005 a virulent outbreak caused
death of 1000 children here and it went unnoticed by the mainstream media and
no substantive action was taken. (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-24440141
)
WHY GORAKHPUR? THE GEOGRAPHY AND OTHER DYNAMICS
Gorakhpur
is an agriculture rich region also called Manchester of eastern Uttar Pradesh
for it is the focal point of business to adjoining districts? Located about 100
Km to the International boundary of Nepal it has a continuous supply of water by
rivers like Rapti and tributaries. While it is known for its Geeta press, Gorakhnath
Temple and Railway platform it is also a fertile land with groundwater level
only up to 50-60ft facilitating irrigation The Region consists of 10-12
Adjoining districts and Gorakhpur serves as a nodal point wherein BRD Medical
College is the only hospital with the capacity to treat people suffering from this
disease with almost 100 dedicated beds. Every year in monsoon and due to
Nepal’s release of water flood-like situation arises and due to lack of proper
infrastructure and sanitation in this ‘bowl-shaped’ region, the rainwater gets
contaminated with the groundwater and becomes still and therefore is passed on
by uncontrolled pigs in this region and the mosquito. “Over the years, there
have been cases in the area which are clinically different from one another. JE
is one kind of encephalitis which falls under a spectrum of diseases called
Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Doctors in endemic regions in U.P. have
found cases with similar symptoms but without the virus, leading to some debate
over the cause of the disease. While public health experts have found a difference in case definitions across Eastern districts of U.P., this is
something the Indian scientific community is still trying to understand.”
GOVERNANCE AND OTHER INITIATIVES:
It
is clear that the region lacks basic infrastructure and it took almost 30 years
and close to 6500 deaths to locate this problem on Medical Map. It may have
surfaced in mainstream media now but it was never unknown to State and Central
government and Its dynamic and vocal former MP, Yogi Aditya Nath. The Central
Government started a two-massive vaccination drive in the year 2006 and 2010 and
the State government of BSP in 2009 distributed millions of rupees in pursuance
of treatment of this disease in Medical College Gorakhpur where 136 researchers
were hired but the scheme ran out of money and no further allocation happened.
In 2009 a team of American Scientist took water sample from this region whose
results are not known in public yet reports BBC. Earlier this year in March
Vaccination drive resumed in 38 districts of UP but wasn’t supplemented with
proper sanitation and access to clean water. Yogi Aditynath who has been MP from
Gorakhpur in 1998 is remembered for his speech in Lok Sabha where expressing
the plight of people he broke down but a close look suggests that in 15th
Lok Sabha i.e. 2009-2014 He mooted on this only 5 times out of 82 debates while
when his party came in power for three years before becoming CM he debated only
3 times on this out of his 56 times. The people of this region have suffered a lot and the only reason is the Welfare intent and lack of infrastructure,
access to freshwater and uncontrolled pigs around the City.
(Amar Ujala)
Amidst
all the gift of AIIMS looks only positive which was due to this region for long
and we can all be hopeful that CM Yogi would pay back to this city the love he
got as MP Yogi by educating people, providing better health facilities because
a Metro in Gorakhpur may not be a necessity but to curb the rising death toll of
innocent infants and provide better health and medical facility certainly may be.
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