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Encephalitis kills over 200 in six months

Officials have said over 200 people—most of them children—have died of Japanese encephalitis over the last six weeks.

Director of Epidemiology and Disease Control Division of the Department of Health, Dr. Mahendra Bahadur Bista, said so far over 1,200 cases of Japanese encephalitis have been reported most of them in western terai districts. He said the government has launched programmes like spraying insecticides to kill mosquitoes that transmit the deadly disease, immunise children and distribute mosquito nets at affordable prices.

According to officials, the figure (200 deaths) reflects cases registered at the government-run hospitals only. Number of people who died in their own villages, while undergoing treatment at private clinics or across the border in India could be much higher. Officials admit that the number of casualty could go higher.

The government has come under sharp criticism for failing to procure vaccines for Japanese encephalitis from the sum worth Rs 135 million provided by the World Bank. Officials say the money could not be utilised as the tender process was initiated quite late, there was only one bidder and senior officials could not decide on whether to accept tender bid.

Sources say the officials remained undecided fearing that the Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) could nab them for awarding the contract without fulfilling financial regulations of the government. According to government regulations, there must be at least three bidders for any tender to be valid.

Interestingly, CIAA has already initiated probe against Health Ministry officials on why they failed to procure vaccines in time resulting into loss of hundreds of lives. Experts say vaccination has been found hundred percent effect against the Japanese encephalitis.

Dr. Bista said based from last year’s experience, the government had already initiated process to procure vaccines for encephalitis for the next year. He said he had recently visited far-western district of Kanchanpur and that the on-going conflict had not hampered the government-launched preventive activities including vaccination.

Reported for the first time in Nepal terai in 1978, Japanese encephalitis affects thousands of people in bordering areas of Nepal and India every year. Medical doctors advise people to maintain cleanliness around their houses, fill in ditches etc. where mosquitoes could lay their eggs, and use mosquito nets during the night.

Banke, Bardiya, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang and Rupandehi districts in western Nepal are more affected from the disease, according to reports.. nepalnews.com by Sep 13 05