Two decisions announced by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan this week to help encephalitis-hit Muzaffarpur are identical to promises he had posted on Facebook during a similar outbreak five years ago.

The health ministry said on Monday that Harsh Vardhan had instructed that a 100-bed paediatric intensive care unit be set up at the Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital, Muzaffarpur, where around 100 children have died of encephalitis, or brain inflammation.

Harsh Vardhan, who had visited Muzaffarpur last week, had also said five virology laboratories would be established in different districts of Bihar in consultation with the state, and that the Centre would support 10-bed paediatric ICUs in adjoining districts.

A message purportedly posted by Harsh Vardhan on Facebook on June 24, 2014, when Muzaffarpur was in the grip of a similar encephalitis outbreak, had announced the same decisions. He was then also the Union health minister in the newly elected Narendra Modi government.

“A 100-bed paediatric ICU would be set up at SK Medical College Hospital. In the adjoining districts, 10-bed paediatric ICUs would be set up. I also announced setting up of five virological diagnostic laboratories in the state at Gaya, Bhagalpur, Bettiah, Pavapuri, and Nalanda,” the Facebook post read.

The content of the two sets of decisions five years apart triggered comments about unkept promises from the Congress. “The same minister, Shri Harsh Vardhan, the same reasons, the same promises, no work,” Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeted.

Harsh Vardhan and health ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. But Bikash Kumar, the principal of the Sri Krishna Medical College Hospital, said a 100-bed paediatric ICU on the same floor would help during encephalitis outbreaks.

“We have a functional 40-bed paediatric ICU and we’ve converted the main ICU for paediatric use, but they are on different floors. We would ideally like a 100-bed paediatric ICU on the same floor that would make it easy for doctors and nurses to monitor patients,” Kumar told The Telegraph.

Kumar said he was not the principal in 2014 and would not be able to say why a decision to establish a 100-bed paediatric ICU was not followed up at the time.

Several districts across Bihar and western Uttar Pradesh have been grappling with outbreaks of encephalitis over the past 15 years. Although some patients may have Japanese encephalitis, a viral infection, public health officials have classified most cases as unexplained Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.

Public health specialists have cautioned repeatedly over the past decade that poor civic and public health infrastructure, malnourishment and delayed diagnosis and treatment are among likely factors contributing to the deaths from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome.

Research studies have suggested that when hungry malnourished children with poor glycogen reserves consume lychee fruit or seed, they may slip into a hypoglycaemic state and develop encephalitis.