Having a child who is frail and falls sick frequently is nothing new for Tharparkar’s people as the tragic cycle of children’s death in the district, attributed to malnourishment, premature births, drought and lack of health facilities seems to have started once again as drought-hit Thar over the past three days.

Thar has had 100 the worst days in its history as 217 infants broke down to malnutrition before their fifth birthdays, by raising the death toll to 562 in the current year. Don’t these casualties go way far in comparison to the number of kids in the massacre of the Army public school in Peshawar?

According to the recent figures compiled by the relevant officials, so far 57,345 children below five years of age were treated at several hospitals without government health facilities while according to the WHO guidelines, if the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rate among children and women is above 15 per cent, it is to be deemed an emergency situation.

Undoubtedly, life is too tough for people living in Tharparkar. Extreme heat in summer, scarcity of food, unsafe and saline drinking water and lack of access to basic health facilities has an adverse effect on the life and well being of communities. In fact, the ongoing human tragedy of deaths of children in Thar shows no signs of abating, despite tall claims by the government and it is a tragic fact that the Provincial government and Federal government are spending millions and even trillions on constructing motorways, corridors, underpasses and F-16s, then what is the problem if we spend a few millions on the people of Thar?

It is a very humble request to the Chief Minister of Sindh and the Federal government to take this ongoing matter seriously with a view to countering acute malnutrition so that precious lives could be saved. It is our collective responsibility to fight malnutrition and we must not leave children and women of Tharparkar alone.

ZEESHAN NASIR,

Kech, October 26.