Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the state is now on the brink of ending encephalitis and a formal announcement regarding the same will be made soon.

Adityanath inaugurated the Special Communicable Disease Control Campaign at the BRD Medical College here and inspected the dengue ward. He also enquired about the health of the admitted patients.

“With the concerted efforts of various government departments, Uttar Pradesh is now on the brink of ending encephalitis. A formal announcement of its eradication will be made very soon. The control of encephalitis in UP is being hailed as a successful model at the national and global levels,” Adityanath said.

During his address, he said his government has been running special campaigns for the control of communicable diseases such as dengue, malaria, encephalitis, kala-azar and chikungunya since 2017, and these campaigns have yielded “excellent results”.

“The government conducts inter-departmental coordination campaigns for communicable disease control three times a year. The special campaign, running from October to January, includes a 15-day programme in the initial phase focused on public awareness and inter-departmental responsibilities.

“From October 16 to 31, Asha workers will go door to door to identify patients and ensure proper arrangements for their treatment in all households,” he said.

“Before 2017, 500 to 600 encephalitis patients used to be admitted at BRD Medical College during this season. Every year, 1,200 to 1,500 children die due to this disease throughout the state. Now, the disease and deaths are becoming history. If the government is determined, and people cooperate, everything is possible,” Adityanath said.

The chief minister said cleanliness is a crucial path to building a strong and self-reliant India.

“In line with this goal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) on October 2, 2014. As a result, there has been a remarkable public awareness about cleanliness. Today, every household has access to a toilet. Through initiatives like the ban on single-use plastic and various other programmes, a strong focus has been laid on cleanliness,” he said.

He stated that along with controlling communicable diseases, everybody must work on Prime Minister Modi’s call to completely eliminate tuberculosis (TB) by 2025.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)