Shazneen Mistry
Maharashtra has to send specialist doctors to Melghat and other tribal areas, as directed by the Bombay High Court. They have asked the health secretary to be on guard and notice if any more malnutrition deaths were reported in the state’s tribal belts.
The high court issued this warning after they were informed by the petitioners that despite various orders from the court and the provision of constituting a core committee to oversee the medical facilities in Melghat and other tribal areas to arrest malnutrition deaths of tribal children, the state had done very little to implement the court's orders, as malnutrition deaths are occurring till date.
The high court has asked the state and centre to file affidavits and also asked the petitioners to give the latest update on malnutrition deaths in the tribal areas before the next hearing. The petitioners also sought an audit of the funds received from the centre towards the upliftment of tribal areas and alleviation of the problems faced by them.
The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni, while hearing public interest litigation (PIL) and civil applications, were made aware by senior advocate Jugal Kishore Gilda that the first PIL had been filed highlighting the issue of malnutrition, high court had passed several orders and directions to address the issue. Gilda also said that while some initiatives were taken by the state government and the situation has improved. But due to the lack of proper medical facilities in Melghat, there was an estimation that 900 children could die due to malnutrition. Not only the children and expecting mothers from Melghat, but 11 other sensitive tribal areas such as Nandurbar and Palghar, were suffering due to insufficient medical aid.
An activist who has been working in tribal belts In the Melghat region, Bandu Sane, submitted that between May 2020 to June this year, 70 children have died and there have been 257 child deaths in the past two years and over 11,000 children were underweight. The situation they face is grave as only doctors with Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine, and Surgery (BAMS) qualifications were assigned to the region and there were no pediatricians or gynecologists.
The state's advocate, Neha Bhide, said that the government did not consider the PIL’s as adversarial, and even one death due to malnutrition was of concern. Hence, measures were being taken to address the issue. She added that while the Central government was responsible for disbursing funds to the state under various schemes, the state was cognizant of its responsibility to implement the schemes effectively.
After hearing the submissions, the court observed that it seemed there were no pediatricians, gynecologists, or radiologists in the area and such specialists should be posted there immediately. The court further said that if there was a dearth of doctors, the state could organize regular visits of doctors from civic and civil-run hospitals to these regions.
While directing the state to ensure that doctors monitor the tribal areas regularly, the court warned the secretary of health of being held responsible for any more deaths due to malnutrition. The court then directed the centre to file an affidavit enumerating the funds disbursed by it under various schemes for tribal welfare and how it is monitoring the implementation of the schemes and also asked the petitioners to file an affidavit on the number of deaths and posted the PILs for the next hearing.
