MANGALDAI, Aug 9 - The AASU�s Mangaldai unit has blamed the health policy of the State Government, prepared by high-level officials in Dispur leading to the alarming outbreak of the deadly Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Darrang district.
A statement issued by AASU�s local unit president Khanindra Rajbomgshi and secretary Manashjyoti Baruah, alleged that due to lack of proper planning by the officials, the disease has already claimed seven lives, including that of three minors, in the district, while more than 15 others have been fighting for survival in different hospitals.
They claimed that the authorities have been neglecting the district for a long time. Last year, 14 Japanese Encephalitis death cases and six in Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) were recorded in the area. However, the district got a sum of only Rs 50,000 from the Government to undertake preventive measures and that too in July, when the disease had already turned serious, they said.
The AASU leaders also expressed doubt about the effective implementation of JE vaccination drives in the district separately for children and adults under 60 years of age against the success as claimed by the Health Department.
They demanded a high-level probe into the claim of the District Health Department, which has shown in papers, an achievement of 2.74 lakh against the target population of 3.20 lakh in case of children below 15 years of age, while in adult vaccination, the average success rate has been shown as 84 per cent against the target population of 4.80 lakh.
They also demanded the Health Department to make public the decisions taken by Sanjeeb Kumar, Principal Secretary, State Health Department, Dr Abdesh Kumar, Additional Director, National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme and Dr Partha Gogoi, Regional Director, North East, Central Health Department, as they had all visited the district to take stock of the situation two weeks ago.
Meanwhile, the free movement of domestic pigs � which have been identified as the main carriers of the JE virus, which are transmitted into the human body by Culex mosquitoes, especially in busy areas close to the fish and vegetable market in ward number 3 and ward number 8 of Mangaldai town � still remains a cause of serious concern for the local people.
The matter was reportedly discussed in a joint meeting of the district administration, Health Department and the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department in June and a decision to shift such pigs from the residential areas to some remote locations had also been taken. However, it has not materialised as yet.
