This Article is From Sep 07, 2016

'Centre Not Serious About Curbing Encephalitis': Rahul Gandhi in Gorakhpur

Rahul Gandhi attacked the centre for ignoring growing cases of encephalitis in Gorakhpur.

Gorakhpur: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today attacked the Centre for ignoring the plight of those suffering from encephalitis in eastern Uttar Pradesh - a disease that has claimed thousands of lives over the last decade.

Speaking after a visit to the Gorakhpur medical college and hospital where hundreds of encephalitis patients are being treated, Mr Gandhi said the NDA government had undone the progress made by the previous UPA government.

"When Ghulam Nabi Azad was the health minister we focused a lot on this. But inside, I was told that the NDA government is not focussing on this," Mr Gandhi said.

Mr Gandhi is in Gorakhpur as part of his grand Uttar Pradesh tour in which he plans to visit 220 constituencies ahead of the assembly polls scheduled in 2017.

Had Mr Gandhi stayed longer than the 30 minutes that he spent at the hospital, Lalti Devi perhaps would have been able to meet him. 42-year-old has been staying at the hospital since Sunday, attending on her one-year-old son who is suffering from encephalitis.

In anticipation of Mr Gandhi's 10:30 am visit today, Lalti Devi along with several other attendants was turned out of the hospital. Mr Gandhi arrived a little after noon. 

Unlike Lalti Devi, Amardev Yadav  did get to meet Mr Gandhi. His one-year-old son Rohit is admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital. Doctors are not sure what is wrong with him.

"He asked what happened to my child, I told him. I wasted three to four days doing rounds of private clinics then brought him here. What can I do? I am illiterate," Mr Yadav said of his brief meeting with Mr Gandhi.

Doctors at the Gorakhpur hospital want more resources for research.

"My biggest problem is that in several cases we are simply unable to identify the exact disease in children. This leads to a lot of deaths. I wish there was more research about this," said Dr Anil Bansal who looks after the hospital's encephalitis ward.
 
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