Japanese encephalitis deaths in Bihar raised in Lok Sabha

The death of a large number of children due to suspected Japanese encephalitis in Muzaffarpur in Bihar was raised in Lok Sabha today, with an RJD member asking the government to get doctors from abroad to treat them. 

“Though the disease is being called Japanese encephalitis, its exact nature has not yet been ascertained and neither its treatment,” RJD member Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav said during Zero Hour. 

Asking the government to take immediate medical help, he said a panel of foreign medical experts should be urgently sent to Muzaffarpur district. “An estimated 200 children between 3-5 years have already died,” he said. 

JD(U) member Santosh Kumar raised the issue of problems faced by maize-producing farmers in Purnea and Kushinagar areas of north Bihar. 

While the government has already fixed the minimum support prices (MSP) for rice and wheat, the price for maize has not been fixed yet, he said and demanded that MSP should be fixed at Rs 2,000 per quintal. 

Nalin Kumar Kateel (BJP) sought help for fishermen in coastal Karnataka who were affected by floods in the region.

Courtesy: PTI