PATNA: In a move to bolster Bihar's public health standards, the State government on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
PATNA: More than 80,000 homes were destroyed by the tropical storm that ripped through five districts of Bihar, and the death toll rose to 82.
According to the latest reports, five more bodies were recovered in the affected districts. A third of the victims were children, including 17 of the 39 victims in Purnia district and 11 of the 33 killed in Araria.
Alto gether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar health minis- ter Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed on Wednesday.
The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthal- mologists, he said.
PATNA: Altogether 18 children were born blind in the arsenic affected blocks of Bhojpur district during the past three months, Bihar Health Minister Nand Kishore Yadav confirmed.
The cause of the blindness was not yet known, but health department officials were in touch with ophthalmologists, he said.
The Ganges River Dolphin was declared the national aquatic animal last month, but is still in urgent need of being saved from extinction, experts on the subject said. There are only about 2,000 left, down from tens of thousands just a few decades ago.
Alarmed by a steady decline in the number of dolphins, declared a national aquatic animal by the Prime Minister, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a strict enforcement of the ban on the hunting of the man's best friend.
Official sources said Nitish has directed the district magistrates of Patna, Bhagalpur and Buxar to see that the ban order has been adhered to.
The middle and upper Ganga plains covering the upstream part from Rajmahal Hills, were earlier considered to be free from arsenic groundwater contamination. Initially, the contamination (>0.05 mg/l) was reported in 2002 from two villages, Bariswan and Simaria Ojhapatti of Bhojpur district of Bihar.
ANAND S.T. DAS
A frightening spread of encephalitis and cerebral malaria in Bihar's northern and southern districts has killed at least 69 children since July first week, underlining what health experts and Opposition leaders have termed as insufficient medical facilities, poverty and lack of hygiene in the state's rural belts.
Hazaribagh, July 29: As the survey for construction of a diversion on Ranchi-Patna Highway (NH-33) near Kujju came to an end today, another fire was reported at an abandoned mine near here.
