patna a highlevel team headed by state health department principal secretary prataya amrit visited muzaffarpur on thursday to take stock of preparations at the government hospitals to combat acute encephalitis syndrome aes in the district and its adjoining areasprataya not only visited some primary health centres phcs to ascertain the availability of paramedical staff and drugs but also met family members of the children who were infected with the deadly virus under kanti block in muzaffarpur in 2019during the review meeting he directed the officials concerned to train teachers of the government schools in the worst affected areas to make the children aware of the virus and precautionary measures to deal with it in the districtmuzaffarpur civil surgeon dr suresh kumar said it was decided to tag all the private ambulances and other vehicles with the nearby hospitals to provide transportation to the children from villages to the nearest health facilityin addition the principal secretary gave his approval to pay in cash to the drivers of the private ambulances or vehicles carrying the affected children to the hospitals from their respective villages we have been told to keep in touch with the family members of those children who got infected last year he saidit was decided at the meeting to send voice messages on their mobile phones thrice a day to alert them about the precautions to be taken at their houses during night and day time the process of collecting mobile phone numbers of the families is underway kumar told this newspaper over phone on fridaythe civil surgeon said the team members expressed satisfaction over the awareness campaign launched in the affected areas but the principal secretary stressed the need of wall paintings at panchayat level as part of the awareness campaign about the aes he addedthe 10member team comprising some health experts from unicef visited different health facilities under musahari minapur kanti muraul and kudhani blocks of the district and inquired about the preparations to deal with the exigencypratyaya appreciated the adopt village programme launched by the district authorities in aeshit blocks in muzaffarpur in 2019 ovr 150 children had died due to aes also known as chamki bukhar last year about three dozen children had died due to the deadly viruslater in the evening prataya held a meeting with the dms of 12 districts under tirhut darbhanga and saran divisions through videoconferencing and inquired about the vaccination drive under their jurisdiction