Infant Death Count on the Rise, UP Government Yet to React

The trail of deaths is unceasing in the paediatrics department of BRD Medical College, Gorakhpur. In the past 5 days, 55 children have lost their lives in the hospital. Of them, 29 were infants. Apart from this, the encephalitis and epidemic ward saw the death of 26 children. Last week, on November 1, 13 children perished, of which 7 were infants. On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th November, the number of children who died was 12, 18 and 12 respectively.

What is troubling is that post the Gorakhpur tragedy, where over 30 children died due to disruption in oxygen, these numbers are not going down. Getting perturbed by the rising graph of infant deaths, the authorities deployed 20 doctors from PMS and other medical colleges. The number of deaths in the pediatric department in October has broken last year’s record.

In the last three months, 1,300 children have died in the paediatrics department. According to BRD’s records, 418 children in August, 433 in October and 458 in September have lost their lives.

UP has been in the news past couple of months for the death of children in hospitals. It has reached the level that UP has managed to climb to the top of National Horror List. From July to September, the uninterrupted reports of child deaths from various districts of Gorakhpur have shaken the nation. UP has become the sole state in the country to have most number of deaths of children under the age of five. According to the family health survey, 130 out of 1000 children die before reaching the age of five. In Shravasti, one of the districts in UP, out of 1000, 96 children die before completing one year and 49 children die under 28 days.

Gorakhpur Crisis

In Shravasti, there are not enough hospitals relative to the city’s population. The 30-bed hospital has only 2 MBBS doctors with no surgeons or specialists. According to the government figures, there is an 84% shortage of doctors in hospitals of UP. The Yogi government has claimed to fill the vacant position of doctors, the question of ‘when’ and ‘how many’ remains unanswered.

Why is the situation such?

Malnutrition and Poverty; Lack of doctors

As per the International Food Policy Research Institute, Uttar Pradesh witnesses 46% of deaths of children under the age of five. For Shravasti, the number is at 63%. Bihar and Jharkhand don’t fall too far behind in this. In UP, infants and pregnant women are a victim of malnutrition. Pregnant women are unable to consume nutritious food due to poverty and give birth to weak babies. Over thousand children have perished over last three months in Gorakhpur due to this.

The month of July and August is fatal for infants. Gorakhpur’s BRD College saw over 1000 child deaths in the month of August itself. While Banswara in Rajasthan saw 70 child deaths in two months and a hospital in Jamshedpur had over 100 child deaths. There have been many reports from Farrukhabad as well as Bareilly. These incidents have rocked the country to the core and unveiled the ugly reality of health care system in India.

A research by India Spend reveals that Jharkhand ranks on top in cases of infant deaths. According to doctors, infants are most vulnerable in the months of July and August; being the rainy season, they are likely to catch infections and other diseases.

Doctors have listed various reasons behind the deaths:

1. Because of getting married at an early age, women are not physically ready to sustain the pregnancy.
2. Poverty and illiteracy are also responsible.
3. Pregnant women do not get nutritious food which in turn makes them and their newborn malnourished.
4. Being under-weight themselves, the women bear underweight babies.

According to the National Family Health Survey for 2015-16 in Jharkhand, 45.3% of children under the age of five are stunted, 47.8% are underweight, and 40.3% are forced to live below poverty line. In a state like this, many die before reaching the hospital itself.

In 2000, after separating from Bihar, Jharkhand showed tremendous economic growth from 2005-06 to 2015-16. Infant mortality rate also declined. But in the year 2016-17, this aim got left behind. The state did not utilize its funds and the growth of the health care system came to a halt.