Saturday, January 24, 2015

Malnutrition claims one more infant’s life in Attappadi

Times of India: Thiruvananthapuram ThiruvananthapuramThiruvananthapuram: Saturday, 24 January 2015.
Malnutrition deaths continue to rue Attappadi tribals with one more infant death being reported on Wednesday night. This is the second infant death this year. Last year, 59 child deaths were reported, including 37 infants dying during pregnancy and in 2013, 47 infant deaths were reported, but the government and various agencies involved are yet to wake up to the reality.
The government announced a rehabilitation package of Rs 400 crore for Attappadi in 2013 and in addition the three-tier panchayat set apart Rs 1.26 crore to eradicate malnutrition. But according to RTI information collected by voluntary agencies, only Rs 40 crore worth schemes have been implemented, said Rajendra Babu of NGO Thambu.
"We could have regained the health of tribals by supplying cereals such as Bengal gram, green gram and lentils through public distribution system, but even that was not done effectively. Various government departments have failed miserably in correcting the reality. Malnutrition began since their land was encroached and they lost their traditional cultivation with nothing left to eat," government sources told TOI.
Of the 172 ICDS functioning in Attappadi, 130 have no drinking water facility and 100 ICDS have no toilets. More than half the Anganwadis are in rented premises and 66 have no toilets. Though a Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) is functioning, of the 238 children admitted to NRC up to Oct 31, 2012, only 38 have returned to normalcy and 83 children were reported severely malnourished still, Rajendra Babu told TOI.
This is despite the fact that in addition to the rehabilitation package, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 80 crore for Attappadi as part of rural development initiatives for development of tribal hamlets in Agali, Puthur and Sholayar village panchayats in Attapadi.
Meanwhile, the tribal elders informed that the two infants who lost their lives are ten-month old twin boys of parents Udayakumar and Selvi in Pattimalur tribal hamlet in Attappadi. Among the twins, the first infant weighing 700 grams died on Monday and the infant death reported on Thursday was an infant weighing 1200 grams with only 6.9 hp hemoglobin level died at a hospital in Coimbatore. The child was referred to this hospital after his condition deteriorated at a hospital in Kottathara. The mother is also malnourished and anemic.