Kaliapani: Another newborn was found suffering from malnutrition in hilltop Nagada village under Sukinda block in Jajpur district even as the furore over the death of the poster girl of malnutrition was yet to die down, a report said Monday
The ailing newborn was identified as the 40-day-old son of Gela and Mangulu Padhan in Lower Nagada village. He was born on June 15. The newborn was the fifth children of the couple while one of the four children born earlier had died.
This incident has come at a time when the district administration and the state government claimed to have gained control over malnutrition and anemic diseases in the hilltop villages.
The incident has come a year after 21 kids died of malnutrition while three kids recently died of malaria in the village. A girl Manasi who was adjudged the poster girl of malnutrition after recovering from the disease was one of the three children who died of malaria.
While the administration claimed to be providing cooked food along with nutritious ‘Sattu’ and eggs to all pregnant women and kids in the villages, many of them were found suffering from anemic-related problems.
The administration said Anganwadi and ASHA workers visited the villages every eighth day and took stock of the distribution of iron tablets, eggs and Sattu to kids and pregnant women.
Gela said that the visiting ASHA and Anganwadi workers had tested her blood samples and given her iron tablets at the start of her pregnancy. However, they never visited her later. She consumed a few tablets and threw the rest as the medicines were not of good taste. She even delivered at home instead of a hospital while no medical team had visited her house despite the weak health of her newborn.
When contacted, medical officer Rabindra Kumar Mishra expressed ignorance on the development, saying that a medical team regularly visited the villages every Wednesday and conducted check-up of the ailing children. PNN