NEW DELHI: Over 56,000 children under five years in India are suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with medical complications and are admitted to the 1,129 Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) across 29 states and union territories.
The number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) but not needing facility-based care is over 11 lakhs said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday in the Lok Sabha.
Till June this year, as many as 56,143 children under five years are suffering from SAM with medical complications and are admitted to NRCs.
In 2022-23, the number of children in NRCs was 1.89 lakh, while in 2021-22, the figure stood at 1.32 lakh. In 2020-21, 1.04 children suffering from SAM with medical complications were admitted to NRCs, the minister said.
Madhya Pradesh reports the highest number of SAM children admitted to NRCs at 16,276. The figure was 53,490 last year.
It is followed by Gujarat (5,694), which last year reported 18,978 SAM children admitted to NRCs.
The other states reporting the highest number of SAM children needing care are Odisha (4,465), Uttar Pradesh (4,258) and Jharkhand (4,004).
Among the southern states, Karnataka has reported the highest number of SAM children admitted in NRCs this year till June. About 1,822 children were in NRCs in the state. The figure stood at 7,359 last year.
The other southern states where SAM children were admitted to health facilities are Telangana (1,379), Andhra Pradesh (1,330), Tamil Nadu (740), and Kerala (51).
NRCs are set up at public health facilities to provide in-patient medical and nutritional care to children under five years suffering from SAM with medical complications, the minister said.
The services and care provided for the in-patient management of SAM children in NRCs include 24-hour care and monitoring of the child; treatment of medical complications; therapeutic feeding; providing sensory stimulation and emotional care; social assessment of the family to identify and address contributing factors; counselling on appropriate feeding, care, and hygiene and follow up of children discharged from the facility.