Kala-azar Medical Research Centre in Muzaffarpur. Picture by Prakash Kumar

Muzaffarpur, May 26: A team of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Pune, has expressed concern over the style of functioning of the health department to treat kala-azar.

The inspection team, including Dr S.N. Sharma and Dr Geeta Prasad of Bihar State Health Directorate, visted the government Sadar hospital, including primary health centre (PHC) of Kanti and Motipur blocks, and accused the health officials of gross negligence while treating kala-azar patients.

The team grilled the chief medical officer (CMO) Dr A.P. Singh, for not separating the patients of kala-azar admitted to the government Sadar hospital. Sharma said the patients of kala-azar should have been kept in separate wards.

The team took serious note of the alarming rise in number of kala-azar cases pouring in from Muzaffarpur. The team reviewed the preparedness of the health officials in dealing with kala-azar cases. The team was shocked to find that among the 285 village panchayats in the district, 254 were affected by kala-azar and have been declared highrisk potential villages.

Health department sources said around 2,573 patients, including some new cases of kala-azar, were at present undergoing treatment in various government and private nursing homes in Muzaffarpur. So far, 22 people, including nine children, have died in course of treatment in government hospitals.

Three persons, including one child, died this month. The inspecting team stressed the need for facilitating medicated mosquito net to all the kala-azar-affected patients undergoing treatment in government hospitals. Sharma said the system of treating kala-azar patients are in a shambles. He said: “The number of patients affected with kala-azar is rising and new areas of the district are coming under its grip. There was complete carelessness in spraying DDT in the rural pockets.”