People in Patna polish shoes to collect money for AES-affected children

Patna: In Bihar's capital city, members of Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad polished shoes to collect money for children affected due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) here on Friday.

"Crores are being spent on Yoga day celebrations across the country. On the other hand, there is no sufficient number of beds, medicine, electricity or proper infrastructure facilities in the state-run hospital in Muzaffarpur," Manish Yadav, Vice President of Jan Adhikar Chhatra Parishad, told ANI.

Instead of addressing the issue, politicians are busy branding themselves, he added.

"It will be a black day for the families of those children who lost their life due to Encephalitis in Bihar. We will acquire whatever we get after polishing shoes and give it for the treatment of children," he said.

This comes after the death toll due to Encephalitis mounted to 128 in Muzaffarpur district on Saturday.

As per official data, the death toll in government-run Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) has touched 108 while 20 children died at Kejriwal hospital in the district due to the vector-borne disease.

The AES is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms such as high fever, vomiting and in extreme cases, brain dysfunction, seizure, and inflammation of heart and kidney.