HYDERABAD: Despite Telangana’s worsening performance on various child nutrition indicators in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 5 as compared to NFHS 4, the number of children seeking support from Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRC) has dropped considerably.
According to data accessed from the Health Department which monitors the operation of NRCs, only 1,326 children availed support between April, 2020 and March, 2021 as compared to 2,800 children who availed the same in 2019.
The situation further deteriorated in April-June 2021, when only 150 odd admissions were seen in a total of 12 centres in the State. The Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres were started to help the children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), who need clinical intervention to address malnutrition and deficiencies.
“Several NRC’s have taken a hit during Covid-19 as the hospitals were converted into exclusive Covid-19 hospitals. From about 20-30 children at any given point in the NRCs, now the numbers in a few centres have fallen to just four to five. In fact, the number recorded in some centres is zero,” informed a senior official.
In some units like Khammam, the District Hospitals had to make a tough choice by accommodating the pediatric ward with the NRC and using the space for Covid patients. “We have kept it flexible. In case NRC cases increase, the two wards given to general pediatric cases will be used for NRC and vice versa,” said Dr B Venkateshwarlu, District Hospital Superintendent.
An internal enquiry by the department found that several NRCs were dysfunctional as staff and those allied schemes like Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and District Early Intervention Centres (DEIC) were sent for Covid-19 duty. “The Nizamabad hospital was pressed for Covid-19 duty, owing to which pediatric OP was shut from where we get about 70% cases. The RBSK and DEIC teams which usually bring in several patients from the periphery areas were also pressed into Covid-19 service. However, things are slowly picking up and we have had six admissions to NRC,” said Dr Snigdha Manchirala, Medical Officer, NRC Nizamabad.
Meanwhile, experts note that with severe wasting increasing from 4.8% to 8.5% between the NFHS-4 and NFHS-5 timespan, there needs to be a systemic shift in the way NRCs are functioning. “The number of SAM children is currently 8.5%. Of these only 10% will need clinical support which translated to one-two child in every odd village. This can only be detected by Anganwadis and so our focus must be to get the referrals streamlined before we can bargain for more space in the hospitals,” added U Ravinaidu, State Nutrition Consultant, UNICEF.