Daily Times

MITHI: At least five more infants died due to malnutrition and outbreak of the various diseases in Thar, raising the toll to 93 since January of this year.

Those, who lost their lives included a three year old Parwati, a six months old Arshad, and a one month old Asia, and newborns Saho Meghwar and Paro Meghwar. All died in Civil Hospital Mithi. The officials present at district health office in Mithi town informed the Daily Times that with the deaths of five more infants the toll has risen to 92 adding that nearly 140 children were referred to teaching hospitals of Hyderabad and Karachi. The health officials have no record if those that were referred survived or not. The parents of the ailing kids complained that most of the parents were being forced by the doctors in Mithi Civil Hospital to refer their kids to Hyderabad without being provided with fuel in the ambulances.

According to the details available with this scribe, 2,290 kids lost their lives so far in the hospitals of the district since 2013. In the year of 2013 at least 213, 326 in 2014, 398 in 2015, 479 in 2016, and 93 children below five years have lost their lives in the six hospitals of the district.

During these years over 1,200 kids were referred to Hyderabad and Karachi but district health authorities have no record of all those that were referred. According to independent sources including local NGOs, journalists and members of the civil society more than 3 thousands kids had died of hunger and outbreak of the various diseases including waterborne diseases like gastroenteritis, diarrhea etc. It was revealed that over these five years more 4 million kids under five years of age were brought to six facilities after falling ill. Dr Shaikh Tanweer Ahmed, the CEO of Health and Nutrition Development Society (Hands), whose organization in working in the arid zone of the country on health and nutrition observed that there was an urgent need to revamp the infrastructure of the health department and family planning. He claimed that until and unless pregnant women were not focused upon and given the healthcare facilities during their pregnancies Thari kids would continue to die of the malnutrition. Dr Shaikh urged the Sindh government to take the measures in light of the recent UN report on Thar. He warned that the situations might assume the alarming proportion in the next months due to rising temperatures and in the case of the delayed or erratic rainfall in rain-dependent desert zone spreading over 2,200 square kilometers.