Daringbadi: With the memories of deaths of 19 children due to malnutrition in Nagada of Jajpur district still fresh, death of an infant under similar conditions in Laribadi village under Simanbadi panchayat of this block in Kandhamal district has exposed the ground realities of implementation of various welfare schemes at the grassroots level.
The malnourished baby died Friday while its mother had passed away soon after its birth. Irony, the baby was being looked after by its 80-year-old grandmother after the death of its mother as the administration had failed to rehabilitate the baby, reports said.
Amid abject poverty, Sagar Digal, the baby’s father, had handed the baby over to its grandmother.
Cut-off from the rest of the world, Digal’s village is a sheer picture of exclusion and neglect. With no concrete road, people have to trek forests and swim across a river to reach the panchayat for basic needs.
Five months back, Digal’s wife Nanabi delivered the baby boy November 15, 2017 in Daringbadi community health centre (CHC). She was taken to Berhampur-based MKCG Medical College and Hospital as her condition worsened after delivery. However, she breathed her last leaving behind the baby.
Surprisingly, the administration did not rehabilitate the baby forcing its 80-year-old grandmother to take care. Soon, the baby’s health deteriorated due to lack of mother’s milk. Reeling under poverty, the family failed to admit the baby to a hospital that led to its death.
This spread tension in the area as the locals blamed the administration for being ignorant of their needs. Not only the boy, many children in inaccessible villages are battling for life with disease, locals claimed.
“Had the baby been rehabilitated after its mother’s death, it could have been saved. However, the administration did little to take care of the baby. So, we demand a probe and action against the concerned official,” said a local woman leader Bilasini Nayak.
When contacted, Daringbadi CDPO took the matter lightly and did not pay much attention, the bereaved family members complained. Moreover, the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Swapneswar Gadnayak said that he was unaware of the incident and had not received any such report. PNN
