NHRC Notice to Centre, States on ‘Deplorable’ Health Facilities

The development comes amid an outbreak of encephalitis in Muzaffarpur, which so far claimed more than 100 lives.

The outbreak of AES in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur has so far claimed more than 100 lives.

(Photo: PTI)

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Thursday, 20 June, issued notices to the Centre and all states and Union Territories on the 'deplorable condition of health infrastructure’ in the country, reported news agency PTI.

The NHRC has issued a notice to the secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, asking for a comprehensive report within four weeks on the observations made by the commission.

The rights panel said it has also sent notices to the chief secretaries of all the states and Union Territories to submit their reports within six weeks, giving details of the incidents related to deaths.

The notices were issued after NHRC took suo motu cognisance of reports of loss of human lives due to deficiencies and inadequacies in healthcare system, according to news agency ANI.

The development comes amid the outbreak of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, which has so far claimed more than 100 lives.

The Commission also said that teams comprising doctors on its panel along with its officers will visit hospitals, primary health centres and other health facilities in vulnerable states, starting with Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab to conduct on-the-spot fact-finding investigation.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI)