By Paritosh Chakma
Merinews.com, 7 May 2011,
AT LEAST 3 tribal children including two girls have died during the first week of May 2011 due to malaria and unknown diseases in remote village of Parva I under Chakma Autonomous District Council area in Lawngtlai district in southern Mizoram.
Mizoram Chakma Development Forum (MCDF), in a petition to the Mizoram authorities yesterday, claimed that these children died due to lack of medical facilities. Over 50 persons, including women and children are ill at Parva I and neighbouring villages such as Siminesora and Kamtuli, and they have not been receiving any medical aid. The only health centre at Parva I village has been lying defunct and unused. (See Photos on the right)
“It is like epidemic. So many have fallen sick. We do not know why people are dying”, informed a villager at Parva I to this writer over phone.
“Several patients could die as they are not receiving any medical aid,” stated MCDF’s petition signed by its president Hemanta Larma. “MCDF had conducted a fact finding visit to Parva areas between 28 February to 3 March 2011 and found the health situation to be extremely terrible. This area is extremely remote, inaccessible and prone to epidemic each year during the monsoon but there is absolutely no health care facility. The health sub centre at Parva I village has been lying totally unused and without any staff or medicine ever since it was established some years ago”, further stated Larma.
The three children who died at Parva I village have been identified as Miss Renuka Chakma, aged 1 year, daughter of Kinasur Chakma who died at due to suspected malaria on 1 May 2011; Master Mono Agosh Chakma, aged 3 years, son of Guno Sindhu Chakma who died on 3 May 2011 due to unknown disease and Miss Hojpana Chakma, aged 1 month old, daughter of Guno Ban Chakma who died on 6 May 2011 due to unknown disease.
MCDF sought the immediate intervention of Mizoram’s Chief Secretary, the Chief Medical Officer, Lawngtlai; the Director, Health & Family Welfare; and the Chief Executive Member of Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) to immediately send a team of doctors with adequate medicines to the affected villages and establish a Health Sub Centre with adequate number of staff and medical facilities at Parva I village.
Larma informed this writer over phone that Lawngtlai CMO, R B Dey has assured him that immediate action would be taken to provide medical facilities to the affected people and Senior Medical Officer in Kamalanagar, CADC, has been instructed to dispatch a medical team to Parva areas immediately.
