Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh): A heartbreaking incident unfolded in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri where a 15-month-old girl, died at the district hospital on Saturday due to malnutrition. Family refused any medical treatment as she was a girl.
According to reports, the child identified as Divyanshi, weighed only 3.7 kg far below the normal weight for her age. According to doctors, Divyanshi’s hemoglobin level dropped to just 7.4 g/dL, which is dangerously low for survival.
She had already been identified as malnourished under the state’s Dastak Abhiyan scheme. Health workers had also persuaded her family to get treatment at the Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre (NRC).
However, according to the child's mother, her in-laws refused for any kind of treatment for the child, “Whenever she fell ill, they used to say, let her die, she is only a girl,” said the grieving mother.
Just two days earlier, another child's malnutrition case came to light in Sheopur, where a child identified as Radhika died. The girl weighed only 2.5 kg at the time of her death, had gradually weakened despite being healthy at birth.
A similar case was recently reported from Bhind district, where another girl died due to malnutrition, although doctors had a different opinion.
Madhya Pradesh still remains one of the most malnutrition-affected states in the country. The discrimination against girls here is worsening the situation.
