UP encephalitis: Letters in blood to PM,Sonia

Every year,hundreds of children die from encephalitis and related diseases in these districts.

Blaming both the Central and state governments for failing to control encephalitis deaths in eastern Uttar Pradesh,more than 500 people from seven affected districts on Sunday wrote letters in blood to the President,Prime Minister,the Union Health Minister,Congress president Sonia Gandhi and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Every year,hundreds of children die from encephalitis and related diseases in these districts.

The letters demanded a National Encephalitis Eradication Programme,declaring encephalitis as a national health emergency and rehabilitation of survivors of the disease who are left with permanent ailments.

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The campaign was organised by Dr RN Singh,a private practitioner in Gorakhpur who has been working for the eradication of encephalitis in the region.

In the past,he and his wife had written letters in blood to PM Manmohan Singh,then health minister Anbumani Ramadoss as well as Rahul Gandhi. He said he got a response from the Prime Ministers office in 2009,but nothing changed and four to five children are dying every day.

As part of the campaign,Singh wrote a letter in his blood to Rahul Gandhi titled,Kisan yahan bhi hain (farmers are here as well…). He asked Rahul Gandhi also to listen to problems of farmers of eastern UP who lose their children every year to the deadly disease.

He asked Gandhi to pursue a National Encephalitis Eradication Programme as the disease was killing children not just in UP but also in Bihar,Assam and other states.

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