The infant deaths are linked to absolute poverty prevalent in the tribal areas, says KA Ramu, a tribal activist. “In the past few years, the infant mortality rate in Attapadi has risen to an alarming level. But no action was taken by the district administration or the health department. Even the media never reported about the issue,” he says. The activist says he conducted a survey in 2012 and found that 776 deaths were reported from Attapadi in January 2011- June 2012. Almost 70 percent of the victims were tribals. Another significant find, he adds, was that 90 percent of the dead belonged to the 35-45 age group. “During the same period, only 519 births were reported from the region. A majority of the deaths were due to starvation,” he says. “I’m not a health expert. But why are only tribal children dying during delivery? Don’t you think that the government has a primary responsibility to save them?” Ramu claims that he was branded an extremist whenever he raised questions regarding allocation of funds for tribal welfare programmes.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:43:55 +0000