Smallpox spreads in Bihar village; help comes ‘3 months late’

The infected people include children. Representation pic

More than 100 people from 35 families have been infected with smallpox in Triveniganj village in Bihar's Supaul district, an official said. The infected people include children and elderly people. The patients alleged that they have not received any medical attention from the health department. The district health department did not know about the spread of the disease until Monday while the infection had been spreading since the past three months, the patients said.

They said they were undergoing treatment at the local level. "A medical team arrived on Tuesday. We have assisted them with the identification of the patients. The infection keeps spreading in the area," said Mohammad Ismyle, a resident of ward number 4 of Triveniganj. "As soon as we learnt about the disease, we sent a medical team to the village to provide treatment to the infected people. Process of identifying the patients is currently underway," said Dr Mihir Kumar, civil surgeon of Supaul.

Bihar govt faces flak over Rs 1,600-cr ambulance contract

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday slammed the Nitish Kumar-government in Bihar for awarding a plum contract to a firm allegedly owned by the son of Jehanabad MP Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi. He cited a newspaper report, which claimed a Rs 1,600-crore contract for the state's "free ambulance service" meant for the critically ill, pregnant women and infants, was given to the son of Chandravanshi, who belongs to the chief minister's JD(U). "...it appears the government awarded the contract to the company, ignoring red flags, to favour the MP. This is tantamount to a crime against the people of the state," alleged Prasad.

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