GUWAHATI, July 15 � In all, 15 people have so far lost their lives due to Japanese encephalitis (JE) all over the State. A Central team headed by the Joint Secretary Health, Government of India, arrived in the city today to assess the situation in the State.
Director, State Health Services Dr Binapani Basumatary told this newspaper here today that till yesterday four children in the age group of two years to 15 years, and eleven adults, lost their lives due to the disease, which does not have a curative treatment.
Owing to the preventive vaccination programme undertaken by the Health Department in the upper Assam districts, the outbreak of the disease could be contained substantially in these districts. Earlier, outbreak of the disease was high in these districts.
Considering the fact that cases of occurrence of the disease have now been reported also from the lower Assam districts, the department is now making efforts to undertake preventive vaccination programmes in all parts of the State.
However, launch of the programme will require some time. It is expected that the lower Assam districts could be covered under the vaccination programme by the end of the current year. The process to launch the programme in these districts is on, said the Director.
She claimed that after the vaccination programme, the encephalitis-related death toll has come down comparatively.
Stocks of medicines to bring the situation under control are regularly monitored and the Central Government guidelines to prevent further complication of the affected people are adhered to, she said.
