The Supreme Court on Monday issued a notice to the Centre and Bihar government asking them to file affidavits within seven days giving details of facilities dealing with public health, nutrition and sanitation, for treatment of children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.
In Bihar, around 130 children have died so far due to the outbreak of AES.
SC issues notice to Centre, #Bihar & #UttarPradesh govts asking them to file affidavits within 7 days giving details of facilities dealing with public health, nutrition and sanitation, for treatment of children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in #Muzaffarpur pic.twitter.com/JF8nyqE4c8
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) June 24, 2019
During the hearing, one of the lawyers informed the court that similar deaths had occurred earlier in Uttar Pradesh. After that, the apex court also directed the UP government to file its response. The matter has been posted for hearing after 10 days.
Meanwhile, Muzaffarpur Chief Judicial Magistrate, Suryakant Tiwari has ordered investigation against Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey, in a case of negligence registered against them, in connection with deaths of children in Muzaffarpur due to AES.
ALSO READ: Complaint filed against Rahul Gandhi over Yoga day tweet
The plea was filed by advocates Manohar Pratap and Sanpreet Singh Ajmani which sought a direction to urgently constitute a team of medical experts for treatment of children suffering from encephalitis.
The plea contended that the state government has shown ‘no prompt’ steps to prevent the spread of the disease in adjoining districts.
Encephalitis is a viral disease that causes mild flu-like symptoms such as high fever, convulsions and headache.