Encephalitis fever in Bihar: Supreme Court to hear plea seeking formation of team of experts for treatment of children on 24 June

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to urgently constitute a team of medical experts for the treatment of the children suffering from suspected acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur. AES or brain-fever has claimed more than 100 lives in the state. A vacation bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant agreed to hear the plea next Monday after the petitioner’s counsel sought an urgent listing of the matter. The plea also sought a direction to the Centre for providing all necessary medical equipment and other support for the effective treatment of the children suffering from the epidemic disease. The petition filed by advocate Manohar Pratap claimed that he was deeply pained and saddened by the deaths of more than 126 children, mostly in the age group of one to 10 years, in the past week and said the figures were rising day by day.