Centre moves expert team to Assam to help combat Japanese Encephalitis

Union health minister J P Nadda today said the director general of health services is rushing a team of experts to Assam to assist and advise the state health authorities in clinical management of Japanese Encephalitis.

He said the centre was monitoring the situation in Asam senior health ministry officers have been in touch with Asam's health authorities and "sufficient number of testing kits has already been provided to the state.''

The additional director of the National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme has been  camping in Assam since 22 July 2015.

The centre has sanctioned funds for seting up three paediatric ICUs in district hospitals at Sivasagar, Golaghat and Lakhimpur.

Also, in view the large number of Japanese Encephalitis deaths, the state government has been advised to manage cases locally to save precious lives.

Extensive fogging is also being carried out. To address the situation, the state government has asked physicians from medical colleges to stay in district hospitals on rotation. In addition. 

So far 365 Japanese Encephalitis-positive cases and 66 deaths have been reported from the state so far.

More deaths have been reported from the upper Assam districts of Sivasagar (9), Dibrugarh (7), Jorhat (7) and Golaghat (4), with a majority of the victims being adults.

12 districts of Assam including Sivasagar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat and Golaghat have been covered under the adult Japanese Encephalitis vaccination campaign.

All the districts of Assam have also been covered under Japanese Encephalitis child (1–15 years) vaccination campaign and routine JE immunisation programme. Cases detected are generally those, who have not been vaccinated.