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| Edited By: |Source: DNA |Updated: Aug 17, 2017, 08:23 AM IST
A silent epidemic of Japanese Encephalitis is raging through India, and had it not been for the recent spate of Gorakhpur death reports, a majority of us would have hardly bothered about the shamefully high incidence of Encephalitis deaths in India. The number of fatalities caused by the disease is a testament to the fact that public health does not figure very high in the priorities of either the Central or the State governments. From 2014 to 2016, over 5,000 people have lost their lives to the vector-borne disease. In fact, BRD Medical College, the hospital at the heart of the Gorakhpur tragedy, alone has the reprehensible distinction of witnessing over 1,657 deaths in those very years. At the nub of the issue is the collective failure of the past as well as current regimes in allocating adequate resources in battling the menace.
The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of India, as per World Bank data, is 38 deaths per 1,000 children. Superficially, this is acceptable given that India’s IMR has reduced drastically by 76 per cent from 165 deaths per 1,000 in 1960. However, dig a little deeper and the data will tell you that countries which India trumps in terms of GDP growth fare much better in their IMR vis-à-vis India. For instance, Sri Lanka is miles ahead of India, its IMR being an incredible 8 deaths per 1,000. Even Bangladesh manages to have a better delivery of health services on this front with just 31 deaths per 1,000. Another galling problem is the dearth of doctors. Instead of having one doctor per 1,000 patients, we have one per 1,700.
On a nationwide basis, this means that there is a gap of over 5 lakh doctors that the Medical Council of India (MCI) ought to fill up, and fast. Sadly, the history of MCI is littered with one too many sorry tales of corruption. A hope that the MCI will usher in a bottom-up change — thereby ensuring that not just more doctors, but also nurses and other hospital staff are recruited — is a tad bit optimistic, given that its record thus far in battling maladies that have beset India’s existing medical infrastructure has been quite poor. Apparently, for the last 10 years, the demands made by BRD Medical College for the setting up of a special Encephalitis cell that would cost the exchequer just Rs 40 crore have been sidelined. Another demand of Rs 10 crore for upgrading the paediatrics department has also met with the same fate. All eyes are now on UP CM Yogi Adityanath. The buck stops with him and it is for him to justify that the people of UP have not wrongly vested the BJP with power.
