The Assembly on Wednesday witnessed uproarious scenes as Health Minister K.K. Shylaja and the Opposition traded charges against each other during Question Hour over infant deaths in Attappady.
To a question by N.A. Nellikkunnu, N. Shamsuddin and others on the steps being taken to reduce maternal and infant deaths in Attappady, the Minister said that 13 infant deaths had been reported in Attappady in 2017-18.
However, K.C. Joseph pointed out that the supplementary demands for grants passed in the Assembly on Tuesday mentioned an allocation for “monetary relief for the kin of 34 deceased tribal infants in Attappady.”
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala got up to point out that the details in supplementary demands were provided by individual departments and demanded to know from the Minister which figure should the House deem to be right.
A flustered Ms. Shylaja, however, failed to give a satisfactory explanation for the same. She said that 34 might be an aggregate figure of deaths over the past few years, while in 2017-18, only 13 infant deaths had been reported.
She pointed out that the number of maternal and infant deaths were all a matter of intense scrutiny involving a district-level committee which was chaired by Mr. Shamsuddin.
Even though the Speaker said the Minister would examine the figures and place an explanation before the House, the Opposition was unrelenting. As the Opposition continued to question Ms. Shylaja, Minister for SC/ST Welfare A.K. Balan rose to clarify that the figure mentioned in the supplementary demands was regarding the relief given to the families of infants who had died over a specific number of years.
The din continued till the Chief Minister said that the matter would be looked into and that a satisfactory explanation would be placed before the House.
Congenital illnesses
Mr. Balan informed the House during the argument that he and Ms. Shylaja had been consulting with the Anthropological Survey of India in Kolkata about the congenital diseases in the tribal infants in Attappady.
Anthropological Survey of India had agreed to open a regional office in Attappady to study the congenital health issues afflicting tribal infants, Mr. Balan said.