Pahadi Korwa children still deprived of nutritious diet
| Date :15-Dec-2019 |
By Mayank Sharma :
KOTBA, The much-trumpted state government’s ‘Suposhan Mission’is hardly yielding any positive results as malnourished children are still deprived of nutritious diet. Malnutrition continues to be the leading risk factors for disability and deaths of children across the state. Though the government has launched campaigns to eradicate malnutrition, the situation in Jashpur district is telling different story. Four children of Pahadi Korwa family are afflicted with malnutrition and unable to walk. Health of these children is worsening day by day and no authority has initiated any measures to help them.
A family of Sanu Korwa resides at Korwa Basti of Jashpur district along with 10 other Korwa families. Sanu Korwa has six children out of which four have been gripped under malnutrition. Sanu’s wife Gunji informed that her children Kahru, Padma, Santoshi and Radha are not able to walk properly. She informed that because of disability, her son Kahru could only study up to 8th class and Padma up to 5th class whereas Radha is in 6th class and Santoshi has not started going to school. Sanu Korwa, who runs his family of eight members by working as a labourer, said that neither the Anganbadi workers nor the officials and workers of Health department have tried contacting them for solving their problems. He informed that few days ago, Kahru was taken to a hospital for treatment but they did not receive satisfactory response there as well.
It is quite an irony that on one side the government and concerned department claims that they have been doing their best to eradicate malnutrition, it is rapidly increasing and posing a threat to the lives of little children. The department is not paying any heed to this serious situation while making the issue even worse. Now, it is to see whether authorities will take any action regarding the issue or continue lingering on while putting the lives of children in extreme danger.
District Health Officer SS Painkara said that when children did not take required amount of nutrients, they will become malnourished. He said that it is the fault of Women and Child Welfare Department due to which such cases are increasing. “The malnourished children should be admitted in Nutrition Rehabilitation Center (NRC) for recovery”, he said.Talking to ‘The Hitavada,’ District Women and Child Welfare Officer Ajay Sharma said “the family is not a beneficiary of Anganbadi center at present. We would have done definitely something for them if they were the beneficiary of Anganbadi center”, said Sharma.