Revision as of 18:26, 8 December 2020

State of health

AES cases, 2010-18

Rema Nagarajan, June 22, 2019: The Times of India

Muzaffarpur: AES outbreak, Number of cases and number of deaths, 2010-18
From: Rema Nagarajan, June 22, 2019: The Times of India

See graphic:

Muzaffarpur- AES outbreak, Number of cases and number of deaths, 2010-18

As in 2015-16

Sushmi Dey, June 20, 2019: The Times of India

The State of health of Muzaffarpur’s children, as in 2015-16
From: Sushmi Dey, June 20, 2019: The Times of India

Lychee toxins, malnutrition, heat wave or poor health infrastructure – what is causing the encephalitis related child deaths in Muzaffarpur? Even as the state government blames hypoglycemia as the cause for most deaths, doctors, public health experts and researchers have raised concerns over the government’s failure to contain the rapidly rising toll.

This has also compelled the health ministry to send different teams to probe and ascertain the exact cause. Ten paediatricians and five para-medics from RML Hospital, Safdarjung and Lady Hardinge Medical College are part of the five teams set up. The teams also include clinical and public health experts from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), National Institute of Nutrition and UN agencies.

“As of now, we do not have much clue about the exact cause of these deaths. However, we are hopeful of zeroing on it in a day or two,” a senior official from ICMR told TOI.

Though lychees are being seen as a primary cause, researchers say the fruit can only be a contributing factor. Instead, prolonged malnourishment, the current heat wave, poor hygiene and lack of awareness about lychee consumption may have led to the deaths.

“There is a particular component in the fruit which can contribute to reducing blood sugar level if too many lychees are consumed in an empty stomach,” said a public health expert. Official data suggest the Bihar government has been indifferent towards improving child nutrition and healthcare in this district.

In Muzaffarpur, nearly 48% children under the age of 5 are stunted, 17.5% are wasted (too thin for their height), while 42% are underweight, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4. “Patients from villages are rushing to town to seek treatment at tertiary care and losing time in the process. If they go to the nearest health centre or clinic, they can get immediate care and the situation can be controlled,” another health expert said.

As in 2019

Rema Nagarajan, June 20, 2019: The Times of India

While the state and Union governments are now scrambling to deal with the outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) disease in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, official data shows the shocking state of the public health infrastructure in the district. The health ministry’s health management information system (HMIS) shows that all of the 103 primary health centres (PHC) and the only community health centre in the district were not considered even fit for evaluation or were rated 0 out of 5.

The mandatory requirements for a PHC to be evaluated under HMIS were that if it is a 24x7 centre, it has to have at least one medical officer, over two nurse-midwives and a labour room. For non-24x7 centres, all that was needed was at least one medical officer and one nurse. Yet, 98 of the district’s 103 PHCs could not meet even these minimum requirements and hence were not graded in the 2018-19 evaluation.

Muzaffarpur should have 170+, not just 103, PHCs

At least 98 of Muzaffarpur district’s 103 primary healthcare centres (PHCs) could not meet even minimum requirements. Of the remaining five, every single one got a zero rating. The rating consists of three points for infrastructure and two for services. Thus, each of the five failed miserably on both counts.

Incidentally, according to the official norms, there is supposed to be one PHC for every 30,000 population in the plains. By that count, Muzaffarpur should have had over 170 PHCs for its population of a little over 5.1 million.

The situation of the lone community health centre (CHC) was no better. In the 2017-18 rating of CHCs, the one in Muzaffarpur was rated “not eligible”. This is because it failed to meet the mandatory criteria required for being rated.

What were these mandatory criteria? In terms of staffing, there should have been two or more doctors, six or more nurses or ANMs (auxillary nurse-midwife) and at least one lab technician. As for infrastructure, there should be an operation theatre, a generator and separate “public facilities” (read toilets) for men and women.

Again, Muzaffarpur’s population should have meant it should have at least 43 CHCs, given the norm of a CHC for every 1.2 lakh population in the plains. Instead, there is just one and that in a shape that does not even merit evaluation. What makes this situation particularly shocking is that the district has been witnessing deaths of scores of little children at this time of the year every year for the last two decades or more. And yet, successive governments have not bothered to beef up the public health infrastructure to cope with even routine health needs, leave alone a medical emergency they know will hit unfailingly each year.

SKMCH ‘paediatric ICU’ unfit for tag

The central team that probed the death of children from AES in Muzaffarpur stated that the paediatric ICU of Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) did not meet the criteria to qualify as a paediatric ICU. It said mortality from AES usually ranges from 6-19% in good centres. In SKMCH, mortality rate has been about 25% this year.

See also

Encephalitis: India