4-month-old baby’s skin stuck to bones:Weighs only 2.5 kg due to malnutrition, admitted to Satna district hospital PICU

A serious case of malnutrition has come to light at Satna District Hospital. On Saturday, a four-month-old infant was admitted to the Pediatric ICU (PICU) in a severely malnourished condition. The baby weighs only two and a half kilograms, whereas normally a child of this age should weigh more than five kilograms. Due to malnutrition, the baby’s skin is clinging to the bones, and he is unable to make sounds. Before admission to the hospital, the child was also screened at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Center. This case came to light on Saturday at the hospital’s pediatric OPD. Pediatrician Dr. Sandeep Dwivedi was treating children when Asma Bano, a resident of Marwa from the Jaitawara area, came with her four-month-old son, Hussain Raza. Seeing the child’s serious condition, Dr. Dwivedi immediately directed him to be sent to the Nutrition Rehabilitation Center and admitted to the PICU. Not a single vaccine given so far
The shocking thing is that Hussein has not received a single vaccine yet. Family members said that they are poor and earn their living through manual labor. After Hussein’s birth, the entire family moved to Pune, where his mother Asma Bano also continued to work as a laborer. During this time, Hussein’s condition kept deteriorating. Family members claimed to have shown him to doctors in Pune several times, but there was no improvement in his condition. When there was no improvement in the situation, they returned to the village and brought the child to the district hospital. According to hospital sources, there is no information about Hussein Raza recorded in the records of the Women and Child Development and Health Department. Family members also responsible for child’s condition Dr. Sandeep Dwivedi said that the child is in the category of severe malnutrition. His condition is also serious. The severely malnourished child has been admitted to the pediatric ICU, and treatment has been started. However, family members are also responsible for such a condition in child. DPO Rajiv Singh said that they will gather information about this case from the field staff. If even a slight negligence of the department’s field staff comes to light, strict action will be taken against those concerned. Admitting malnourished children to NRC is the priority. 70 beds reserved in 9 institutions
While Nutrition Rehabilitation Centers are operating with 20 beds in the district hospital and 10 beds each at block-level community health centers for admitting malnourished children. Here, undernourished children are to be provided treatment along with a nutritional diet. The truth is that everything is useless due to the negligence of the field staff. Most of the time, beds remain empty in nutrition rehabilitation centers.