With a main purpose to provide financial help to the state of Bihar, a task force has been assigned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The task force has been constituted to look at the affected areas in the state, which are hit badly by the flood.

Earlier, on Saturday, foundation’s country head Ashok Alexander along with his eight-member team visited some of the areas in flood-affected Madhepura and Samastipur districts of the state.

Speaking with the reporters, CK Mishra, Principal Secretary of Health Department said that Microsoft chief Bill Gates had earlier showed interest to help out Bihar in dealing with chief health apprehensions, including polio and kala-azar.

The eight-member team led by Ashok Alexander also visited state chief minister Nitish Kumar and discussed various health schemes in the state.

Mishra added that the team was impressed with the success rate of health projects launched in Bihar.

Speaking on the meeting with state CM, Alexander said: “It was a fruitful visit and we discussed health-related issues. We wanted to understand the situation first before deciding the area where the foundation could play a role.”

It should be mentioned here that the foundation in joint collaboration with a NGO is already working in the state in the field of kala-azar.