Send more doctors to Melghat now, Bombay high court tells Maharashtra government

Melghat area of Amravati district is known as the 'state malnutrition capital'. And for good reason, because as many as 236 children have died there in the last five months. After this data was submitted to the Bombay high court on Thursday, the state was directed to depute gynaecologists and paediatricians in the area at the earliest.

236 kids dead in 5 months
A division bench of justices VM Kanade and PD Kode observed: "The Melghat area has a population of around 3 lakh people and in the last five months, a total of 123 deaths in Melghat and 113 children in two neighboring blocks have died. This is excluding still births. This is due to the lack of doctors in the area and thus, we direct the state to act at the earliest."

Docs avoid rural postings: NGO
Purnima Upadhyay, of NGO KHOJ, informed the court that doctors were posted at Yerwada Mental Hospital and other hospitals in Mumbai for several years and that they don't take up rural postings. Additional government pleader Neha Bhide said, "There has been resistance among post graduate doctors in taking up rural postings."

Thousands malnourished
Upadhyay had, on the previous hearing, informed the HC that 2,382 severe acute malnourished children and 534 moderate malnourished children were there in Melghat area. Similarly, that around
3,808 severely underweight children and 9,640 moderately underweight children were there in the tribal hamlet.

HC watching closely
There are 11 sensitive districts in the state with a high number of malnourished deaths. The HC has, for the last two years, been monitoring the progress of government schemes in sensitive tribal areas.