Question : Child Deaths

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government has taken a note of the incidents of mass child deaths in various States due to lack of emergency health care;

(b) if so, the details of child deaths reported in the last four years and current year due to lack of emergency health care, State/UT-wise;

(c) whether the Government has sought report from any States on such incidents during the above period;

(d) if so, the details thereof and action taken thereon, State/UT-wise; and

(e) whether the Government has taken necessary measures to prevent such incidents and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND
FAMILY WELFARE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)
(a) to (e): No reports have been received by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) where deaths of the children occurred on a mass scale due to lack of emergency health care.

Any media reports on incident of cluster deaths of newborn and child deaths at public health facilities is given highest priority and is evaluated immediately by Central and State teams and the findings/ recommendations are disseminated to the concerned state for taking appropriate action.

A letter from Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) regarding improving the quality of newborn care has been sent to all the States/ UTs urging them to propose need based proposal for augmenting infrastructure, capacity building, equipment maintenance and ensure uninterrupted supply of essential medicines including oxygen.