Encephalitis outbreak in Bihar: Toll mounts to 129; resident doctor deployed at Muzaffarpur's SKMCH suspended for negligence

Muzaffarpur: As the toll continues to rise due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), senior resident doctor deployed at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH), Dr Bhimsen Kumar, was suspended on Saturday over alleged negligence of duty. The health department had deployed Kumar, a paediatrician at Patna Medical College and Hospital, to SKMCH on 19 June after the encephalitis outbreak. [caption id=“attachment_4386037” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of a father carrying the dead body of his son in BRD college. Team101 Reporters/Saurabh Sharma[/caption] On 18 June, Chief Secretary of Bihar Deepak Kumar had announced that 12 extra doctors had been deputed at SKMCH from various districts in Muzaffarpur, of which four each were from Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital, Nalanda Medical College and Hospital and Patna Medical College and Hospital. With one more death at SKMCH in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday, the toll due to encephalitis mounted to 129 in Muzaffarpur district. As per official data, the toll in SKMCH has touched 109, and 20 children died at Kejriwal hospital in the district due to the vector-borne disease. Ninety patients are still undergoing treatment at SKMCH (84) and Kejriwal hospital (6). As many as 592 patients have been admitted to hospitals in the North Bihar district since 1 June, of which 298 were discharged after treatment. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the children who died due to the encephalitis. He had also given directions to the health department, district administration and doctors to take necessary measures to contain the disease. Encephalitis is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms such as high fever, vomiting and in extreme cases, brain dysfunction, seizure, and inflammation of heart and kidney.