Muzaffarpur, June 16: A child reportedly died in front of Union Health Minister who was visiting Sri Krishna Medical College hospital in Bihar's Muzaffarpur where 81 children have died due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in the past fortnight. The child, a five-year-old girl, died in front of Harsh Vardhan, according to her mother. Seven children lost their lives due to AES on Sunday, taking the death toll to 84.

"My 5-year-old daughter, Nisha, died due to Encephalitis fever. She was admitted to the hospital on Saturday,” the mother of the deceased told reporters. Harsh Vardhan, accompanied by Union Minister of State for Health Ashwani Kumar Choubey and Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey, visited the state-owned Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital to review the ground situation in the state. Bihar: Panic Grips State as Heatwave Kills 40.

"The Ministers are holding a closed-door review meeting with the doctors and health officials to take stock of the situation," a district health official told IANS. Earlier today, attendants of patients complained about the unavailability of doctors at the hospital. "My daughter is in the ICU room of SKMCH. The death toll is increasing day by day. There were no doctors after 12 in the night and only nurses are here. There are four bodies inside ICU," Mohammad Aftab told ANI.

Another attendant, Sunil Ram said, "My four-year-old daughter was admitted to hospital on Saturday. She was declared dead today. There is no facility in SKMCH." Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to families of the children who died due to AES in Muzaffarpur. Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey said the state government is doing its best to save the children.

Encephalitis is a viral disease, which causes mild flu-like symptoms such as high fever, convulsions and headaches and has been claiming lives in the district for the past few weeks.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 16, 2019 03:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).