Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey

Muzaffarpur, June 20: Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey today visited Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur, Sadar Hospital and Kejriwal Maternity Clinic in Juran Chapra locality of the town here to inquire into the deaths of children reported from here owing to heatstroke.

However, news of children’s deaths continues to pour from Kejriwal Maternity Clinic and SKMCH also. So far, 19 children have lost their lives following heatstroke in the districts of north Bihar during a weeklong span.

SKMCH superintendent Dr G.K. Thakur said only four deaths were reported from SKMCH. The civil surgeon-cum-chief medical officer, Dr A.P. Singh said none died during treatment at Sadar hospital.

On the other hand, the authorities of Kejriwal Maternity Clinic raised hue and cry over the deaths of children admitted for treatment there.

Clinic administrator V.V. Giri claimed that 15 children in the age bracket of three years to eight years had died following heatstroke in the course of treatment at the clinic. Giri said the symptoms of the ailing children are similar to those of encephalitis. Attending doctors at the clinic were also at a loss to confirm that. Rajiv Kumar, a doctor posted at the clinic, noticed children pouring in from the countryside with symptoms in encephalitis or Japanese encephalitis.

The health minister was accompanied by former Union health minister Dr C.P. Thakur apart from a team of doctors. Choubey later admonished doctors at the clinic not to exaggerate the issue and stressed the need to heal the wounds of the ailing patients.

Taking a jibe at the attending doctors and the clinic administration, Choubey said: “The doctors and the administrator of the clinic are engaged in publicising the issue of children falling prey to the unknown disease and subsequent deaths.” BJP MLA from Muzaffarpur Suresh Kumar Sharma, who accompanied Choubey, asked the medical fraternity to stop being whimsical and concentrate on their professional obligations.

Thereafter, the health minister rushed to SKMCH to assess the situation there. Choubey spent half-an-hour in the children’s ward and met attendants of some of the ailing children.

Two new cases of heatstroke, as diagnosed by the SKMCH doctors, were admitted Monday. Later, Choubey interacted with the doctors of SKMCH briefly on the issue of emergence of an epidemic.

Talking to reporters at SKMCH, Choubey said a team of the Regional Medical Institute, Patna had already inspected and collected blood and stool samples of the ailing children to check its recurrence.