Supreme Court seeks reply from Bihar on steps taken to address outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Central government and the States of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in a PIL concerning the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome..The Court has sought a response from the State of Bihar on the steps taken by it and the medical facilities provided to tackle the situation. Nearly 150 deaths have been caused by the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome in the State..The Vacation Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and BR Gavai has given the State of Bihar a period of seven days to file its affidavit in the case..The Bench expressed concern about the situation in Muzaffarpur, where the death toll has gone beyond 100. Justice Khanna said that the case requires serious consideration and that the Court requires answers..This observation came after ASG Vikramjit Banerjee told the Court that steps were being taken and that the situation was now under control..Advocates Manohar Pratap and Sanpreet Singh Ajmani had moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre and the State of Bihar to arrange for 500 Intensive Care Units (ICU) along with the requisite number of medical professionals to deal with the outbreak..A direction for the arrangement of 100 mobile ICUs has also been sought in the petition. A prayer to set up a medical board to be sent to Muzaffarpur has also been made..The petitioners have also prayed for a direction to the State of Bihar to notify an extraordinary government order directing all private medical institutes in the area of Muzaffarpur to provide free medical treatment to the affected patients..The petition also seeks the constitution of a fact-finding committee to look into the role of negligent persons involved. A prayer has also been made to disburse compensation to the tune of Rs. 10 lakh to the families of those persons who lost their lives due to State’s negligence..Read Order:.Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.