The Bombay High Court on Monday said if there are more deaths of children due to malnutrition in the Melghat region in Maharashtra, it will hold the principal secretary of the State Public Health Department responsible.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations (PIL) petitions about an increase in malnutrition cases in the interior of Maharashtra, especially Melghat. One of the petitions highlights that posts of anaesthetists, gynaecologists and paediatricians are vacant, adding to the problem.
The court was informed by the petitioner that in the last one year, 73 children had died in the region due to malnutrition.
State counsel Advocate Neha Bhide, told the court that all steps were being taken to address the issue.
To this, the court said, “If your (government) machinery is so well equipped, then why have there been 73 incidents of children deaths due to malnutrition?”
The court went on to say, “If on the next date of hearing we are informed that there have been more deaths of children due to malnutrition, then we will hold the principal secretary of the State Public Health Department responsible. The Public Health Department secretary has to rise to the occasion.”
The next hearing is scheduled for September 6
Right to Information queries have revealed that 283 children have died in Melghat alone, and around 17,000 in the entire State, due to malnutrition in 2015-2016. A report by the State Women and Child Development department shows that on an average 500 children die every year in Melghat, against its population of three lakh. In 2013-14, the number of child deaths rose to 600 and in 2014-15 another 426 children died in just two blocks of Melghat.
