Maharashtra stands fourth in the list of deaths of babies and children, as per data compiled by the Centre and procured under RTI
It's not a good time to be a child in Maharashtra. In the last four years, 2,93,060 babies and children (till the age of 5) have died in the state, the fourth-highest after West Bengal, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. And this, after spending Rs 8,000 crore on the public health sector.
Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
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While this data has been provided by the Union Health Ministry, after an RTI application was filed seeking the same, state health officials have refuted it and claimed that other states weren't giving accurate figures.
Deathly numbers
The highest mortality rate has been recorded in the category of perinatal deaths — stillborn infants or those dying within a week of birth. Most of the perinatal and neonatal (within four weeks of birth) deaths in Maharashtra have happened due to premature birth and low birth weight. Other reasons include infections, asphyxia and trauma. And after the first month of birth, diarrhoea and pneumonia take over as the leading causes.
In this morbid data, there is a tiny positive, however — the decreasing number of infant deaths in the state. In 2014, 91,895 infants died, as per state records, the number dipping to 86,833 in 2015, 81,430 in 2016, and 23,388 in 2017 till August.
But worried health experts said that's hardly a silver lining, and that the government needed to focus on better implementation of health schemes in rural areas.
"The government has initiated several schemes for the prenatal and postnatal treatment of infants, such as Janani Surakhsha Yojana, which gives women a cash incentive for delivery in hospital; but these need to be implemented across the state, especially in districts with high mortality rates. Home delivery and malnourished mothers are still high in numbers," said Dr Abhijeet More, convener of Jan Aarogya Abhiyan.
In denial?
Dr Satish Pawar, director at Directorate of Health Services, Maharashtra, however, was of the opinion that infant mortality was on the decline across India, and that Maharashtra was doing far better than other states in that aspect.
Refuting the data procured, a senior BMC health official said, "The figures given are not balanced... other states aren't providing accurate data, which is why Maharashtra features so high in the list."
But activist Chetan Kothari, who had filed the RTI application, slammed the authorities and their versions. "This is the common statement government officials give whenever they get exposed. This data has been compiled by the central government; so, if it's wrong, shouldn't the Centre be held accountable?"
Rs 8k cr
Amount state government spent on the public health sector
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