AHMEDABAD: Five children have died of malnutrition at Ludbai village in Nakhatrana taluk of Kutch district in Gujarat. After the deaths, the village sarpanch organised a medical camp where 322 children were examined by a doctor and 39 of them were found malnourished.
Kutch district’s District Development Officer Shailesh Prajapati, however, said, “Not five, only two died due to malnutrition. One child died on May 15 in Ludbai village and in July, three children have died. Of the four, one child died due to low weight, one died due to fever and other reasons, while the remaining two died due to malnutrition. The health team is conducting a survey.”
Jabbar Jat, sarpanch of Ludbai village, told this newspaper, “A child in my village got sick while I was taking him to the hospital and he died on the way. Following this, I conducted an investigation and discovered that as many as five children aged 0-15 months died from malnutrition in the previous week (June 7-15). I also reported this issue to the Taluk and district levels, but the system took no action. Following that, I sought assistance from a non-governmental organisation.”
A local Trust on July 23 held a paediatric diagnosis camp in the village and 322 children from the Ludbai village were tested, according to the sarpach. It was found that 39 children were malnourished and were in a serious state, he added. Dr Jayesh Kapadia, who examined the children, told local media that he discovered more than 22 malnourished children in one hour.
While on one hand, the government authorities admit that two kids have died of malnutrition in Kutch, on the other, Gujarat’s annual spending on children’s welfare is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore. The Gujarat government is running various programmes for children’s welfare. They include Chiranjeevi Yojana, Bal Bhog Yojana, Vitamin Yukt Poshan Aahar Yojana, Kanya Kelavani Yojana and Bal Sakha Centre, among others.