Balaghat Child Deaths: Why Are Baiga Children Falling Sick Amid Measles, Malaria and Severe Malnutrition?

Bhopal: More than 30 children have died in the Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh since June, continuing through August. Most of these children belonged to tribal dominated villages in the district, especially the Baiga tribe.
According to the reports, the families of the deceased said that the kids developed symptoms like rashes, fever, vomiting and diarrhea before they succumbed to death. 

Measles and Malaria emerged as a major concern in the area. However, it was also reported that the children were severely malnourished and dehydrated, hence initial infections like pneumonia and anemia made it even harder for them to survive and fight the disease.

According to NDTV, many children could not even reach the hospital and died at home because several Baiga habitations remain disconnected from main village roads. In one documented instance, an ambulance could not reach a village because the usable road ended several kilometres away.

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According to WebIndia, in July the government organised a door to door healthcare checkup in Kundekasa, Adori, Korka and Bandari. Around 6,342 people were examined, out of which 1,149 people were identified as sick. Few of them were treated at home and some were taken to the hospitals. 

Once the outbreak was identified, an outbreak-response immunisation campaign was launched. Children between the ages of 1-10 years were given Measles Rubella (MR) Vaccination regardless of their vaccination status. Around 14,637 children were already vaccinated by early September.

A senior Health Ministry officer stated that the Centre, state government, and national health institutions are working closely to investigate the situation, protect vulnerable communities, and provide timely medical care. With the sudden increase in surveillance and vaccination drives, independent journalists started to question the government. Many journalists even visited the hospitals to take pictures and speak to the family members of the deceased kids.

On September 3, an order was issued by the Balaghat District Administration that prohibited anyone from taking pictures inside the hospital premises.

However, the order was withdrawn within a few hours. The district collector, Kumar Satyam said, “The order was issued in a hurry; it was intended for banning protests as per the norms at places like hospitals; it was not meant for media personnel. But the order issued was not clear, hence it was withdrawn.” 

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As the death toll began to rise, independent journalists travelled to Balaghat in search of answers for the deaths of so many children. Lokbhadra Singh, Monika Singh, Bindu Gurjar and Saurabh Bhati visited the local hospitals and spoke to families in the affected villages. 

According to the reports, there was a massive gap between the death toll published by the government and the information that these journalists gathered from the residents of Balaghat.

They said that the government had initially only acknowledged 8 deaths. Their report suggested a death toll of about 24 to 30 people.

They also witnessed overcrowding in the hospitals, kids sharing hospital beds, and the most shocking thing that their report revealed was that the hospital had discharged many patients just a day before the reports arrived and even added extra beds, so that the hospital looked better and sufficient enough for the number of people that it was treating. 

The journalists alleged that they faced pressure and surveillance from the government while they were reporting in the village. 

Lokbhadra Singh and the other journalists were also asked to meet the officials before they left Balaghat. They didn’t meet anyone before leaving the area on September 3.

Meta repeatedly suspended the Instagram accounts of Bindu Gurjar, Monika Singh, and Lokbhadra Singh, citing account-integrity violations. Some accounts were later restored, but the reach of those specific accounts was affected negatively.

The Press Trust of India criticized the actions that were taken against independent journalists and demanded an investigation into the same.

(Rh/ARC/MSM)