Govandi kids’ deaths: BMC suspects measles

The BMC has swung into action and is probing the deaths of three children of a Govandi family within 48 hours after a midday report highlighted the incident Civic officials visited the house of the deceased in Rafi Nagar slum on Monday to inquire with the parents Officials suspect this may be the result of measles apart from malnutritionCivic officials learnt that the family did not respond properly to the immunisation drives for kids Officials also got in touch with doctors from Rajawadi Hospital who had treated two of the kids to ascertain the reason behind the deathsAll three childrenmdashHasnain aged 5 Noorain aged 35 and Fazal Khan aged 1mdashhad fever and rashes on their bodies Noorain died on the way to Rajawadi Hospital on October 26 while Hasnain and Fazal died at the hospital while undergoing treatment on October 27Also read Mumbai 3 kids from one Govandi family die in 48 hoursThe parents of the kids told BMC that none of the kids had been immunised routinely Representation picsAs per the Fazalrsquos death certificate issued by the hospital he died of Kwashiorkor or severe protein malnutrition The hospital conducted a postmortem of Hasnain but the report is still awaited Meanwhile the family had gotten a death certificate for Noorain from a local doctor who had cited loose motion and anaemia as reasonsBMC visitAfter midday reported on this on November 7 the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation health department has launched a probe to find out what caused the deaths As per civic officials the kids were malnourished and the parents did not respond well to immunisations The parents of one the kids also kept migrating which posed obstacles for regular and timely immunisationsDuring the BMC teamrsquos visit to the deceasedrsquos house Noorain and Hasnainrsquos mother Sherunissa Khan told officials ldquoMy children were immunised but not regularlyrdquo However when asked to produce the documents she replied ldquoI donrsquot have it right now Our house was demolished earlier and we misplaced our documents So Irsquom not sure if we have it or notrdquoBMC investigation finds that all three kids had rashes on their body and fever which could point to measlesOne of the BMC officials wishing not to be named said ldquoHasnain and Noorain were the eighth and ninth children Their mother has recently given birth to her tenth kid This takes a toll on the health of the motherrdquoFazalrsquos mother Shaheen Khan said ldquoHe was given the vaccine after birth and 15 months after that We did not take him for vaccines after thatrdquoPrimary probe resultBMC Executive Health Officer Dr Mangala Gomare said ldquoAs per our primary investigation we came to know that all three children developed rashes all over their body and also had a fever These are clinical symptoms of measles so we suspect that was the case here Investigation is still onrdquoldquoThere is a strong refusal when it comes to family planning and immunisation especially in Govandi We always try to convince them but still we canrsquot force them Now with UNICEF we are approaching local community leaders and with their help we will raise awareness among the peoplerdquo she addedlsquoWe live in pathetic statersquoSpeaking to midday Shaheen Fazalrsquos mother said ldquoWe live in pathetic conditions There is no electricity or water The BMC does not even come to clean sewage or collect garbage so we do it on our own No politician or civic body comes to help us because we are poor Our children are falling sick because of the unhygienic conditions I lost my son because of thisrdquoldquoI am three months pregnant and do not want any further investigation When my son was ill no one came to help us When he was in need of an ambulance to take him to hospital or an ICU bed nobody was there But now everybody is coming here after his deathrdquo she addedBMC screeningThe local ward has started screening the kids in the area for malnutrition in view of the deaths M East ward health officer Dr Upalimitra Waghmare said ldquoToday we have screened around 250 houses Apart from routine surveillance on Tuesday around 16 staff teams will reach out to around 1000 houses in the vicinity We will screen the children and also see if they are regularly immunised or notrdquoLocal doc under scannerOn the condition of anonymity A BMC official who is part of the investigation said ldquoWe have got information about Noorainrsquos death The family had gotten a local BAMS Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery doctor to issue Noorainrsquos death certificate The doctor had mentioned the cause as loose motion and severe anaemia However it is contradictory to what we found during our investigation We will ask the doctor about itrdquoRole of organisationsA senior medical officer investigating the matter said ldquoThere are three organisationsmdashBMC Anganwadi and an NGOmdashwhich are involved in immunisation and child care as well as raising awareness on the same in the areardquoldquoThe awareness campaign for immunisation and malnutrition as well as family planning and implementation of all the national programs in the area are carried out by BMC However the family had responded poorly to the samerdquo he addedThe officer also claimed ldquoThe second organisation is the local Anganwadi where all three kids were registered The family even in this case did not take the advice and help extended to them The third is NGO Apnalaya which in collaboration with BMC carries out awareness drives It also makes available nutrition packets from Sion hospital for the kids but their efforts to reach out to the family also failedrdquo250No of houses local ward screened on Monday