Karnataka hospitals to have 20-bed wards for malnourished kids

BANGALORE: Home to 63,273 severely malnourished children, Karnataka will soon equip hospitals with 20-bed wards to treat these kids.
The Justice N K Patil Committee, which studied the extent of malnutrition among children, submitted its final report to the Karnataka high court last week. The report outlined a multi-pronged strategy to eliminate malnutrition.It has found 11.39 lakh moderately malnourished children in Karnataka.
The committee has asked the government to establish a separate ward with minimum 20 beds in district hospitals and those attached to medical colleges to provide immediate treatment to these children. Medical education minister SA Ramdas told TOI a separate ward for malnourished children will be set up in Bangalore’s Victoria Hospital.
“Such children require immediate medical treatment and care. An independent special task force must be set up to ensure that the committee’s recommendations are implemented. A compliance report must be filed every three months to the Karnataka high court,’’ a copy of the report which is with TOI said.
The profile of each severely malnourished child must be maintained by the hospital with online monitoring facility until the child comes out of the state of malnourishment. “The severely malnourished children admitted to the nutritional rehabilitation centres must be treated by specialists at government cost,” Justice Patil said. The committee said the reasons for severe malnourishment are not surprising.
“Adolescent girls are not getting nutrition, timely medical advice and aid. For one, they are not part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS). Even if the government has evolved schemes for them like Sabla and Sneha Clinic, there is absolutely no awareness on these schemes. Unless adolescent girls are taken care of and protected, the government cannot tackle the problem of malnutrition,” the report said.
Shockingly, with two out of five girls in Karnataka being married off before they attain the age of 18, the risks of these girls giving birth to malnourished children are very high. North Karnataka districts of Bidar, Raichur, Gulbarga, Yadgir and Koppal have nearly 50% of girls being married off before they turn 18.
"In the inherently patriarchal set-up, girls are often never the priority for nutritious food. They end up developing anaemia which results in their children being malnourished. It's a vicious cycle," said Nina P Nayak, member, National Commission for Children.
Pointing to the poor accountability in the women and child welfare department, the committee has said those who are lawfully entitled to rations and iron-folic acid tablets do not get them under the ICDS.