Three more children die in Tharparkar

MITHI: Three more newborn babies died at the Civil Hospital Mithi, pushing this month’s death toll from malnutrition to 33, a private news channel reported on Sunday. Sources at the hospital said that the infants died due to malnutrition during treatment. According to health experts, the major causes of these deaths are poverty, malnutrition and lack of proper healthcare facilities in the Tharparkar district of the Sindh province.

The PPP, which has been in power for nearly 10 years in the province, had attracted strong criticism from opposition parties for failing to address the issues which lead to children’s deaths. Health experts say the government’s inability to ensure food supplies in the arid region results in malnutrition of mothers which is resulting in death of newborns in the region. Thar desert, one of Pakistan’s poorest areas, has recently witnessed an alarming number of children suffering from pneumonia or diarrhea due to a dangerous mix of drought, poverty and poor health infrastructure.