Bhubaneswar: With the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) situation turning grim in Malkangiri, an expert committee formed by the government held its first meeting with health secretary Arti Ahuja here Thursday.
The expert team has been proposed to visit the district to take stock of the ground situation, sources said.
The seven-member team headed by Prof Jacob John discussed the measures the state government has taken to contain the disease in the region.
Sources said Ahuja informed the meeting about the purpose of forming the team. A detailed presentation was also made regarding the JE situation.
Observations made by the Central team, which visited Malkangiri, and reports on the current situation were presented to the team.
The officials of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC) and Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) who are the part of the expert team also presented their observations.
As of Wednesday, 85 children have died due to the vector-borne disease, while two deaths were reported from Koraput. One report was also received from Brahmagiri area of Puri earlier. Though three deaths have been reported Thursday, the government is yet to confirm them as deaths due to JE.
Although the reported toll is galloping, the state government has put the JE deaths at 27 only.
“Till now 248 cases of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) have been detected of which 119 are male and 129 are female children. Out of this, 105 are JE affected while 74 AES affected,” health department officials said after the meeting, adding, “Deaths due to JE is only 27 and non-JE death figure stands at 47.”
The government said that children in the age group of 0.5 to 10 years have been affected. “The expert team may proceed to Malkangiri Friday,” the official added.
Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Nruparaj Sahoo, who is currently in Malkangiri to monitor the steps being taken by the government to prevent the outbreak of the disease, on the other hand has stated that situation is yet to improve as per expectation.
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