With a 11-day-old tribal infant in Attappady dying owing to underweight related complications late on Thursday night the death toll since January this year has risen to eight. The baby girl born to tribal couple Selvaraj and Anu of Bommiyampathi cololony located close to Thavalam died at Government Medical College Hospital in Thrissur. During birth she weighed hardly 1.75 kg.
The death occurred two days ahead of a much anticipated visit of Health Minister K.K. Shailaja and SC/ST Development Minister A.K. Balan to Attappady to take stock of the prevailing healthcare facilities available for tribespeople in the region.
The infant with premature birth complications was shifted along with her mother from Government Tribal Specialty Hospital in Kottathara to the MCH two days after birth. The 22-year-old mother was suffering from malnutrition for quite a long time and her first pregnancy had aborted last year.
Death continues to stalk the tribal hamlets of the region despite claims of targeted intervention by Health Department to fight prevailing poverty and undernourishment. A six-day-old infant of Guddayur tribal settlement at Sholayur died last week and the girl was weighing 1.2 kg. A four-day-old infant who died early this month weighed hardly 2.8 kg.
Health officials say anaemia and malnutrition are still prevalent in the tribal belts and workers have prepared a list of over 3,000 children requiring immediate attention. Despite repeated demands from tribal organisations and rights groups, the tribal specialty hospital continues to remain a referral hospital and women and children are forced to go to medical college hospitals in Thrissur and Coimbatore for expert treatment.
The new infrastructural facilities at the specialty hospital, which would be inaugurated by the two Ministers on Saturday, also look inadequate in addressing the prevailing situation.
Though the additional block at the only major healthcare centre in the region was built at ₹3.5 crore, it has nothing to meet the needs of women and children. The additional block has a male ward with 46 beds, 21 special rooms where admission would be reserved for those able to pay, a mini-conference hall, and space for installing an MRI CT scanner.
As the ₹1.80 crore sanctioned for purchasing the scanning machine has been diverted for other purposes, the space allotted for it will remain vacant. The tribals were demanding wards for tribal women and children in the space set apart for the special rooms and the male ward.
