BHOPAL: Taking a dim view of a 10-month-old girl weighing just 4.06 kg in Burhanpur district, the Madhya Pradesh Human Rights Commission (MPHRC) on Thursday served notices to officials concerned and sought their reply on the plight of the malnourished child who is receiving treatment at a hospital.
MPHRC chairman Justice Narendra Kumar Jain served notices to the Burhanpur Collector, Chief Medical and Health Officer (CMHO) and Women and Child Development Officer, the commission's public relations deputy director, Ghanshyam Sirsam, told PTI.
The notices are returnable in three weeks, he said.
Besides, these officers have been asked to provide data on children who were found malnourished in the beginning of January this year and their number now in Burhanpur, he added.
Furthermore, the MPHRC has asked the officials to furnish the number of children admitted to hospitals due to malnourishment and treatment being given to them, Sirsam said.
The commission's move came after a Hindi newspaper carried a telling picture of the malnourished 10-month-old Asma, daughter of one Mahendra Babaria, in a government hospital in Burhanpur district.
The girl hails from Basali village and lost her mother one-and-a-half months ago.
She had been admitted to the government hospital ten days ago.
Her grandfather Kisan Babaria has told the media that his son (Asma's father) is a labourer.
According to health experts, the weight of a 10-month-old child should be around nine kg.
As many as 4,000 kids have been found to be underweight in Burhanpur, a MPHRC release said quoting a government figure published in the newspaper.
Of them, 1,947 children were severely underweight, including 231 who have been found to be in such a condition in the last 15 days, the release said.