Patna, June 7: Guddan, a nine-month-old baby from Puna village, was admitted to Anugrah Narayan Medical College and Hospital (ANMCH), Gaya, with encephalitis-like symptoms at 8.15am on June 4. The child was critical and immediately needed ventilator support. He, however, succumbed to the disease in the afternoon, as he did not get the emergency service.

The ANMCH administration was keen on reassuring health secretary Ashish Kumar — when he visited the centre on Wednesday — that the hospital was fully prepared to deal with emergency cases. The air-conditioner in the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) also remained functional, only till Ashish’s stay at the facility.

In the ICU complex of the hospital, there are four ventilators that were bought last year after the outbreak of the acute encephalitis syndrome disease that claimed 85 lives at the medical college. These equipment, however, have never been used for the needy for want of properly trained doctors and technicians.

Even as the state is struggling to find out the reason behind the 31 deaths in Muzaffarpur and nine in Gaya, all of whom have died of a mysterious brain fever in the past 10 days, it is emerging that the hospitals in these places are still unprepared to tackle emergency cases. The situation is similar to last year’s, despite tall claims made by the state government.

Doctors at ANMCH said out of 17 admissions of such patients so far, Japanese encephalitis — a deadly form of brain fever — was confirmed in two children yesterday after their blood and cerebral spinal fluid were tested in the hospital’s laboratory.

They, however, added that the situation had hardly seen any improvement from last year when the disease’s outbreak had caused widespread concerns.

In case of Muzaffarpur, the situation is no better. Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) and Kejriwal Maternity Clinic, from where casualties have been reported, again witnessed death of nine children today.

The state government claimed to have spent about Rs 6.2 crore in the past year to tackle the mystery disease that took about 150 lives last year. The government said it had spent on measures like training of district- and block-level officials, purchase of fogging machines, distribution of insecticide-treated fogging machines to about 50,000 families, establishment of ICU wards in the sadar hospital.

The steps hardly seem to have benefited the poor families, who are losing their children at an alarming rate.

Health department principal secretary Amarjeet Sinha told The Telegraph that all efforts were being made to provide best medicare to the patients in Gaya and Muzaffarpur.

“Though the exact reason leading to the deaths has not been ascertained yet, the children are being given symptomatic treatment at the two hospitals in each of the two districts. We are monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. Till now, it has emerged that the disease has been caused due to heat, humidity and dehydration,” he said.