Thar mortality rate rises to 57 in November

HYDERABAD: With the death spiral continuing to take a toll on the lives of Tharparkar's children, nine more deaths were reported from the desert region's government hospitals on Monday. The mortality figure for the on-going month has risen to 57, while 757 children, mostly newborns and infants, have died in Tharparkar so far this year, according to unofficial estimates.

The nine deceased include three newborns, five infants aged between one to eight months and a 30-months-old child. The doctors at Mithi Civil Hospital and the taluka hospitals cited pneumonia and low birth-weight as the reason behind the deaths.

Reducing neonatal mortality in K-P – a job far from done

"There are no doctors, no medicines and critical patients are always referred to hospitals in Karachi or Hyderabad," bemoaned Liaquat Larik, whose 30-month-old son, Samand, died in Nangarparkar's government hospital. Gulzar Juenjo, father of deceased six-month-old Soomal, said he was always told to buy medicines from private pharmacies.

The parents complain that doctors are either absent from their duties or they do not pay attention to the patients' health.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2019.