A two and half month old twins, a girl and a boy, from a village in tribal Jhabua district died within a space of two days due to malnutrition.
The district collector Ashish Saxena has confirmed that the deaths were due to malnutrition and has ordered an inquiry.
The incident took place in Kakanwani village, Jhabua which is around 350 km west of Bhopal. According to data from the National Family Health Survey IV, the tribal Jhabua district has 45.6 per cent malnutrition rate, while the state’s average is 40 per cent. Neo-natal mortality is also the highest in Madhya Pradesh with 51 infants out of 1000 failing to see their first birthday.
The twins father Kalia Damor, who is a marginal farmer said that on July 28, the anganwadi workers in the village administered two vaccines to Lalita and three vaccines to Nilesh. On July 30 their condition started to deteriorate and while Lalita died on July 31, Nilesh died on August 1.
Kalia took no steps after Lalita died, but Nilesh’s death the following day, Kalia went to the Kakanwani police station and lodged a complaint in which he alleged that his two kids had died due to reaction from the vaccines. The police registered a case of death and postmortem was conducted on Nilesh.
Medical officer of Kananwani primary health centre, Dr Shobhan Baberia, who did the postmortem said that Nilesh and Lalita died due to malnutrition and not due to the vaccines given to them. He said that on July 28, 36 kids were administered the same vaccine and all of them are fine. He said Nilesh weighed only 1.670 kg at the time of his death. The Angnwadi worker Regina Damor said that no vaccines had been given to the kids since their birth so they had to be given the additional vaccines.
{{/usCountry}}Medical officer of Kananwani primary health centre, Dr Shobhan Baberia, who did the postmortem said that Nilesh and Lalita died due to malnutrition and not due to the vaccines given to them. He said that on July 28, 36 kids were administered the same vaccine and all of them are fine. He said Nilesh weighed only 1.670 kg at the time of his death. The Angnwadi worker Regina Damor said that no vaccines had been given to the kids since their birth so they had to be given the additional vaccines.
{{/usCountry}}The collector Ashish Saxena said that the twins were malnourished since birth and they died due to complications. “I have ordered an inquiry into their deaths,” he said.