The Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh moved a step ahead on Monday in the healthcare facilities with the inauguration of the newly-constructed PICUs (Pediatric Intensive Care Units) at Jangal Kauria and Chargaon (Khuthan) Community Health Centers (CHCs) by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The PICUs constructed by Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited (Hurl) with the Corporate Environment Responsibility (CER) fund will benefit five lakh children, including 2.5 lakh residents of Jangal Kauria and Chargaon.

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Speaking on the occasion, Yogi Adityanath said due to the strengthening of health facilities in the state, the death rate is coming down considerably. With healthcare facilities, infant, maternal and other mortality rates could be controlled.

On the importance of PICU at health centres, the chief minister said that eastern Uttar Pradesh was in the grip of encephalitis for a long time claiming 50,000 lives of children in four decades between 1977-78 and 2017-18 for not getting timely treatment.

The state government started a programme in 2017-18 to control the disease by enhancing health facilities under which PICUs and mini PICUs were set up at district hospitals and Community Health Centers. This has resulted in containing deaths due to encephalitis by 96 per cent. Earlier, 1,200 to 1,500 children died of the disease. The number has come down to almost zero today, he added.

The chief minister stressed the importance of focusing on prevention of encephalitis by creating awareness about cleanliness, consumption of pure drinking water, use of toilets, hygiene, vaccination etc, pointing out that the government is running special campaigns for control of communicable diseases three to four times a year for prevention and awareness. Along with this, health facilities are also being strengthened continuously.

CM Yogi said that the experience of containing encephalitis proved useful in the management of the novel coronavirus. “Earlier, there was not even a single ICU bed in 36 districts, whereas today 7,000 ICU beds are exclusively for children in Uttar Pradesh,” he remarked.

Hindustan Urvarak Evam Rasayan Limited, Gorakhpur Unit’s Corporate Environment Responsibility (CER) fund is being used to construct 17 PICUs in different phases at 17 community health centers at a cost of about Rs 24.71 crores in the district.

At present, the construction process of two medical units (Jungle Kauria and Chargawan Khuthan) has been completed. The main objective of this project is to reduce the child mortality rate through use of latest equipment in pediatrics at the district level.