Alarmed over the rising deaths of tribal children due to malnourishment in Mokhada tehsil in Palghar district, Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao has directed the state to converge various government schemes to tackle the issue efficiently.
State Health Minister Deepak Sawant said the Governor wants convergence of schemes related to tribal development, rural development and women and child development.
"Cases of malnourished tribal children have risen. However, reports about 600 of tribal children having died due to malnutrition is not true," Sawant told reporters here today.
"It is wrong to say that all deaths of tribal children were due to malnutrition. Some deaths were due to drowning, snake bites and ailments. I had recommended it to the Governor for convergence of various schemes related to the tribal population for effective implementation and finding solutions," he said.
Sawant assured that there are adequate stocks of medicines to tackle dengue, malaria and chikungunya with the Public Health Department and warned of action against private medical labs for overcharging for health reports from patients.
"There has been 47 per cent decline in malaria cases this year, compared to the 30,223 reported last year, this year the number of cases was 15,921," he said.
He added that in the case of chikungunya, 439 cases have been reported, of which 393 alone were reported from Pune and surrounding areas.
"So far, no deaths have been reported due to chikungunya. The National Institute of Virology (NIV) (in Pune) is studying the chikungunya cases reported in the state," he said.
Sawant further said that rise in dengue cases have been
recorded in months of July and August this year.
"Most of the dengue cases have been reported from Nashik, Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Ahmednagar. Out of the 2,572 cases of dengue reported in the state, 900 are from rural and 1,672 cases have been reported from urban areas," he said.
In Mumbai 122 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported and about 1,000 cases of suspected dengue have been reported, he added.
Sawant said the state will undertake a survey between September 19 to October 4 in 16 districts of the state for detection of skin diseases and leprosy.
He said the survey is part of the Centre's leprosy case detection programme.
"There are 10,103 leprosy patients in the state, out of which 360 are in Mumbai. The survey will aim at detecting suspected cases of leprosy and providing treatment. The survey will especially target nine districts of Vidharbha, four districts of Khandesh (north Maharashtra) and three districts of Konkan region in the state," Sawant said.
