UP encephalitis death toll crosses 800

LUCKNOW: As per the official statistics displayed at the directorate of communicable diseases, Health Directorate, the number of lives claimed by Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in 2005 stands at 814 and is still counting. The same goes with the number of infected cases that stand at 3,830.
Now the question: Is it for the first time that the JE toll has crossed the 500-mark? Officials answer it in affirmative.However, they are quick to attribute it to 'better reporting' of cases and mortality.
"Even though JE outbreak dates back to 1978, testing facilities at the core-affected area of Gorakhpur was introduced at the Baba Raghav Das Medical College (BRDMC) only last year. That too on the intervention of National Institute of Virology, Pune.
Besides, owing to Sonia Gandhi factor, a testing facility has come up at Rae Bareli too. This facility has been set up by National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), New Delhi," said a senior officer. He further said "state government has had no role in setting up of these two facilities.
It proves the callous behaviour of health administration in past decades." Currently, samples are being tested for Japanese encephalitis at four centres across the state ��� Regional Laboratory, Swasthya Bhawan (Lucknow), KGMU (Lucknow), BRDMC (Gorakhpur) and a facility at Rae Bareli.
"Earlier, even SGPGI used to conduct the routine testing. However, they discontinued it after state government refused to provide them with subsidy for testing JE cases. This has hampered the speed of testing samples," he averred.
Interestingly, the official also added, "For the first time in the history, we are not under any political pressure regarding recording of deaths and cases.
Earlier, a party in Opposition used to launch a tirade as soon as the first JE case was reported but soon after assuming power the same party used to make effort to curtail the number of deaths.
However, this time it is different. Sustained pressure of the media and the Central government has made the difference."