Doctors, MPs, water, sunlight: What all do we look at, asks Supreme Court

The Supreme Court asked the petitioners to approach the Patna High Court to hear a plea on the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) across 24 of the total 38 districts of Bihar.

“What all do we look at,” the Supreme Court asked exasperatedly refusing to hear a plea on the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) across 24 of the total 38 districts of Bihar that claimed lives of 162 children, 130 in Muzaffarpur alone.

Bihar hospital overcrowded with children suffering from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome on June 21, 2019. (Parwaz Khan /HT PHOTO)

“What do you want? That we open it up and try to fill up posts of doctors? We are trying to fill up posts of judges and you can see where we have got with that. There’s shortage of doctors, there’s a shortage of judges, MPs, water, sunlight. What all do we look at?” the top court asked.

The Supreme Court asked the petitioners to approach the Patna High Court.

Muzaffarpur was the epicentre of the AES outbreak that spread to almost all districts of the state causing panic among people and administration. This got worse with the state reporting cases of Japanese Encephalitis also.

The total number of JE cases, predominantly beginning with the onset of monsoon, had gone up to 51 in the state, with eight deaths being reported so far this year. Five of these deaths had been reported from Muzaffarpur, two from Patna and one from Bhojpur, an official said.