Infant malnutrition deaths fall in Palghar

Mumbai: Infant deaths due to malnutrition in Palghar district plummeted from 93 last year to 38 this year, according to a state government report. Deaths were reported in Jawhar, Mokhada and Vikramgad areas of Palghar, which are all malnutrition-affected. Health department officials said that a number of measures had been taken since last year with the aim of reducing malnutrition-related infant mortality.

According to health minister Dr Deepak Sawant, the measures included vaccination drives, visits by doctors of privately-run hospitals apart from state doctors, and greater focus on ensuring delivery at state-run or private hospitals. The state health department claimed that this year, health officials conducted regular screening and immunisation camps for children in tribal hamlets of Palghar, Jawhar, and Vikramgad and nearly 20 million children from these areas were immunised.

Dr Sawant told The Asian Age, “There is regular screening and check-up going on, of expectant mothers right up to their deliveries and thereafter. We have roped-in doctors of privately-run hospitals to visit these areas regularly. If an infant is detected with malnourishment, the hospital takes the case and reports to us and we monitor those cases for line of treatment.”

Child treatment centres (CTCs) have been at the forefront of these measures to reduce malnutrition-related infant mortality in the area, as recommended by a task force. CTCs have been set up in eight primary health centres in Jawhar, Mokhada and Vikramgad.