A child died at Civil Hospital Mithi on Saturday, pushing the toll of children dying from malnutrition this month, in Sindh’s desert district of Tharparkar to 24.

Sources at the hospital said that the infants died due to malnutrition during the treatment. With death of 24 children this month, the year’s death rate in the area raised to 488 children.

According to health experts, the major causes of these deaths are malnutrition and lack of proper healthcare facilities in Tharparkar an arid region bordering India.

The Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which has been in power for nearly ten years in the province of Sindh, has invited scathing criticism from opposition parties and civil society groups for failing to address the issues and conditions, which led to the death of children in the area.

Health experts say the government’s inability to ensure food supplies in the arid region results in malnutrition of mothers, which 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.

It is the same region, which holds one of the world’s largest deposits of coal and the government in collaboration with Chinese companies and other investors working on coal-fired power projects to meet the energy needs of the country.