Nityanand Rai, the Minister of Home Affairs of Bihar, sanctioned a sum of Rs. 25 lakhs for the construction of a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) at Samastipur Sadar Hospital, Bihar.
On the 21st of June, Mr. Rai announced, 17 Members of Parliament (MPs) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will donate an amount of Rs. 25 lakhs.
The decision came after the multiple children died in Bihar due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES.) AES or ‘chamki fever’ is a viral fever, which killed approximately 150 children in Muzaffarpur and its neighbouring districts in Bihar.
Mr. Rai wrote a letter to Chandrashekhar, the District Magistrate of Samastipur, asking him to set up PICUs at the hospitals in Samastipur.
After the installation of the PICUs, children coping with the symptoms of AES will be treated immediately.
It is the first time after the incident that any minister of Bihar spoke about the death of children and took a decision.
In the past few days, the ministers of Bihar were avoiding discussing regarding the AES issue and were instead speaking about other issues.
According to Times Now, Sushil Kumar Modi, the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, conducted a press conference, but did not speak about the encephalitis disease which killed many children in the State.
The media source also said, “When a Times Now journalist prodded him (Sushil Kumar Modi) to speak on the deaths of children due to the encephalitis fever (AES,) the minister, who was more interested in limiting himself to speak on the banking sector, said that those who had questions regarding the disease can leave the room.”
Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, also evaded questions related to the death of children.
However, with the appeal of Nityanand Rai, there are chances the situation will improve.
Stay tuned for further updates.
