Deaths of tribal infants continue in Attappady

Pregnant mothers waiting for their mid day meal at an anganvady at South South Kadampara tribal hamlet in Attappady. The materials for the the meal comes from the ration shop - a sign of how the adivasis have lost their agricultural land and depend on the states largesse. A file Photo: Thulasi Kakkat

The death of tribal infants continue in Attappady with the death of two more infants on Thursday and Friday taking the toll to 51 during the last 16 months when the infants started weathering like dry leaves.

During the last two days two of them died and another had died during last month but was not reported.

On Thursday night, the infant of Sharada and Durai of Melemully in Pudur Grama Panchayat died at Kottathara Tribal Specialty Hospital. The infant died soon after the delivery. The mother was shifted to Palakkad District Hospital for further treatment as she had high blood pressure.

On Friday evening, the infant of Rajamma and Murugan of Mele Ooru in Agali Grama Panchayat died at a private hospital at Anakatti. It was a premature birth on the seventh month of pregnancy.

In another case, the infant of Pushpa and Snethil Kumar of Kovilmedu hamlet in Sholayur died at Thrissur Medical College on April 22, 2013. The infant died soon after death.

These incidents shows the failure of the Government particularly the Departments of Health, Social Justice, Tribal, Local Administration and Rural Development to take preventive steps to bring the infant deaths under control, said President of ‘Thampu’, Rajendra Prasad.

Meanwhile an eight-member Central team that had reached Attappady on May 20 to study the causes of death of large number of infants found that the worst affected of malnutrition are the pregnant women and adolescent girls. More steps should be taken for the safety of expected mothers and the adolescent girls, the team members felt.

The Central team also found that nutritious food was not distributed to the pregnant mothers and children in Attappady through the Anganwadis for the last two years.

The Central and State governments schemes like ‘Safala’ and Indira Gandhi Mathru Suraksha Yojana were not implemented for the last two years.

The Central team which was scheduled to wind up their study programme on Saturday has extended their investigation for another two days considering the seriousness of the problem in Attappady.