Malkangiri: With the number of child deaths due to Japanese Encephalitis rising every passing day, the trust of Malkangiri people on treatment of doctors at the district headquarters hospital is waning as understood when the district collector took away an eight-year-old encephalitis-affected girl for treatment from her parents unwilling to admit their child to the hospital last night.
The Collector reached Daniguda village under Sadar block and took the girl child from her mother after much persuasion was made by the sarpanch, the Anganwadi and ASHA workers to admit the encephalitis-affected kid to the district HQ hospital.
Shanti Padiami, mother of the child, said, “The collector snatched my girl from my hands against. I don’t know whether she will be cured or not.”
Asked why she was unwilling to take the child to the hospital, the mother said, “I will never go to the Malkangiri hospital as I have already lost two of my child. May be due to wrong treatment or something else I lost my two kids.”
Surendra Padiami, father of the child, said, “Had the officials asked me to take my daughter to the Cuttack or Berhampur hospital, I was ready. However, the Collector took her to the Malkangiri hospital forcibly.”
Elaborating about the incident, Purnima Parida, ANM, Dangiguda, said, “On November 2, we had undertaken a blood test of the girl. But she was found Malaria negative. Though we tried to take the kid to the hospital, all the efforts fell flat. Her parents were not in senses due to death of her two siblings. As the girl’s condition did not improve, we again tested her blood samples and test. After the reports found her to be JE-positive the parents did not listen our requests to take her to the hospital.”
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Parida added, “The kid’s mother said let my child die here, but she will not never visit the Malkangiri hospital.”
The girl child was taken by the district Collector along with the ASHA and Anganwadi workers to the hospital, Parida stated.
Notably, death toll due to Japanese Encephalitis in the district has reached 86 in past few months and the State government is yet to found a solution to the issue.