With her child sleeping on a bed in the encephalitis ward, Gauri says, “He has improved a lot. He even talks to us now. However, he still cannot walk.”

A first-year MD (doctorate of medicine) student at BRD, who is filling a patient form, asks her, “Why did not you not go to a PHC?”

Gauri says, “Hamein kya pata? [what do we know?]”

The doctor asks, “Can you show me the vaccination certificate of this child?”

Gauri repeats, “Ye sab hamein kya pata? [what do we know of all this?]”

The doctor turns to me: “You see, despite the best efforts in vaccination and awareness, they remain ignorant.”

As per government records, Deoria has two district hospitals and about 100 PHCs and CHCs.

To Gauri, the doctor says, “Do you have anybody educated at home? Ask them to send the vaccination details on WhatsApp as soon as they can.”

A nurse enters and gives two injections to the child, who has been diagnosed with AES owing to symptoms of mental disorientation. The boy is one of the 173 AES patients at BRD this year, 30 of whom have not survived.

On 26 August when I visited, the child was the only AES patient in the ward.

Back in her room, Dr Mittal informs that such cases where patients come straight to BRD after visiting quacks, are steadily coming down. “Many patients are now referred from primary or district level centres,” she says.

Outside the ward, Arshad Ansari is sitting on the floor with his family. His three-year-old son is admitted and is undergoing tests. A tailor by profession, Ansari has come from Amahawa Khas village in Maharajganj district, some 100 kilometres away.