Muzaffarpur civil surgeon suspended for being absent from duty

PATNA: The state health department on Monday suspended Muzaffarpur civil surgeon Dr Virendra Kumar as he was found absent from duty without prior information when additional chief secretary (health) Pratyaya Amrit visited the district headquarters on April 8 to review the preparations related to acute encephalitis syndrome (AES).
A health department official said there was prior information regarding the meeting. Muzaffarpur DPRO Kamal Singh said the civil surgeon was absent in the meeting and he was also not found in the district headquarters. “He had not taken any formal approval for his leave. The department took it seriously and initiated his suspension,” said Singh.
Health department special secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh, who had accompanied Amrit to Muzaffarpur, said they had visited several blocks and also interacted with the guardians of the kids admitted at SKMCH. Singh said while the preparations at the hospital side were good, the attendants complained about lack of awareness regarding the facilities in the government hospitals.
“We have asked the district magistrate to intensify the campaign to make people aware about the AES and the treatment facilities at the hospitals. All the IEC materials have already been sent to the district,” he said. Another health department team had also visited Sitamarhi the same day.
As per the information shared by the Muzaffarpur district administration, 11 children having the symptoms of AES have been admitted at SKMCH so far, of which nine are the confirmed cases and two are suspected and one death was reported. The latest admission of AES cases have been on April 7, when two children, a six year old male child of Motihari and another 2.5 year old female child of Muzaffarpur were admitted. Motihari child is undergoing treatment, while others have been discharged.