Assam Government has decided to launch a special vaccination programme against Japanese encephalitis in five districts from first of the next month. Around five lakh persons from 15 to 70 age-groups are to be covered under the programme.The step has been taken following reports of death of over sixty people in the mosquito-borne disease in Sibsagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts in Upper Assam during last few weeks. Around 180 disease-affected people are undergoing treatment in Assam Medical College and Hospital at Dibrugarh. The State Health Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sharma, who visited the disease prone areas yesterday, announced that a hospital especially for encephalitis treatment will be set up in Sibsagar district, where more cases of deaths are reported. The Minister asked the doctors to render emergency services in the disease-affected areas, mostly tea gardens. He announced to provide medicated mosquito nets among the victims of the disease.