Muzaffarpur, June 7: Ten children were today admitted to hospitals in Muzaffarpur from Sheohar and Sitamarhi districts with suspected acute encephalitis syndrome symptoms even as the toll rose by nine.
Seven children were admitted to Kejriwal Maternity Clinic today. Three were admitted to Shri Krishna Medical College and Hospital. As more children poured in to the hospitals, the toll also touched 26, up by nine from Friday.
Sunil Shahi, deputy superintendent, SKMCH, told The Telegraph: “Suspected acute encephalitis syndrome cases have started to come in from areas other than Muzaffarpur. Today, few children were admitted to the hospital from villages in Sitamarhi and Sheohar, on the fringes of Muzaffarpur. A team of paediatricians from Patna Medical College and Hospital, led by additional director of the health department Madhuresh Kishore, also rushed to the SKMCH this morning to take stock of the situation. They minutely examined the ailing children and consulted with the attending doctors. They asked the attendants about the symptoms to get an idea about what led the children to get unwell.”
Ever since the mystery fever was reported in the state around April-end, 76 children have been admitted to SKMCH and Kejriwal Maternity Clinic. Twenty-six of them have died and only three have recovered.
The administrator of Kejriwal Maternity Clinic, Anirudh Kumar Mukherjee, said ever since the mystery fever set in, 50 children have been admitted to the clinic.
Health secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh, who was in Muzaffarpur on Friday, said samples of drinking water consumed by the children admitted to the hospitals have been collected for tests.
Visits from the political fraternity also continued. The BJP MP from Muzaffarpur Ajay Kumar Nishad visited the hospitals in the afternoon.
Accusing the government of failing to fight the menace, Nishad said he has requested Union health minister Harsh Vardhan to intervene in the matter and direct the state government to check the rising toll in Muzaffarpur and its adjoining areas.
