Photo: Swamikartik Khapad Rural Municipality-1 A woman arrives at the basic health center of Muktikot to get a malnourished child examined.
29 November, Bajura. In Swamikartik Khapar Rural Municipality-1 Muktikot village of Bajura, which is called the curse of malnutrition, 5 children have died so far from Baisakhya alone.
Local health worker Janaki Nupane says that the main reason for the death of these children is malnutrition. Local Janaki Vik’s 3-year-old son Tika Vik, Shanti Vik’s 4-year-old son Prakash Vik, Madan Vik’s 12-day-old daughter, Muna Vik’s 13-day-old son and Batuli Vik’s 21-day-old son died . , according to health workers. Not only the children, the mother is also a victim of malnutrition.
The number of health workers who died at the Aadhar Bhukta Health Center in Muktikot could be due to malnutrition. Children are dying every year, yet the attention of the state has not gone unnoticed.
Last year, after the news appeared in various media, the rural municipality conducted a study on malnutrition. It was told in the report that the rate of malnutrition is high in 308 families of Muktikot village. The rural municipality told that when the health team reached the village and investigated, 343 people were malnourished. Out of which 23 people were found suffering from severe malnutrition and 55 from moderate malnutrition.
Of the 243 expectant mothers, 29 were severely malnourished and 71 were found to be moderately malnourished, says Kuber Bahadur Shahi, information officer for the rural municipality. Similarly, health workers told that 12 are malnourished, 53 are moderately malnourished and 56 are moderately malnourished. Examination of adolescents aged 15 to 19 years revealed that 2 were severely malnourished, 30 were moderately malnourished and 29 were moderately malnourished.
According to Health Office Bajura, 41 percent of the children in Muktikot are malnourished. According to Health Office Bajura, Muktikot has high fertility rate, high infant mortality rate, low use of family planning equipment.
The budget is for temples and footpaths
Although children are dying every year due to malnutrition in Muktikot, the government of Far West Province has not allocated a budget for fiscal year 079/080 to reduce malnutrition.
But it has come to know that the state government has allocated a budget of crores only in Bajura in the name of temples and footpaths.
It has been found that Rs 21.7 crore has been allocated for 25 schemes of temples and footpaths across the district. Only one crore rupees have been allotted for the construction of 13 temples.
Civic leader Lakshmiraj Padhya says it is wrong for the government to allocate budget for temples, which does not allocate budget for reducing malnutrition. “The state is oblivious to the appalling state of malnutrition in Muktikot village,” he says.
In the current fiscal year, the Far West government has allocated 232.1 million rupees for the construction of 294 temples across the province. There is no budget in Muktikot area which is in the grip of scarcity and poverty.