By IANS,
Patna : The floods in Bihar have been a nightmare for pregnant women, with many dying during childbirth due to lack of medical care, and those who gave birth have little to rejoice as they have to share a tent with dozens of people. The state government has now announced a cash grant to each newborn.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced that each girl child born in relief camps would be given Rs.11,000 and a baby boy would get Rs.10,000.
“The amount will be given to them from the chief minister’s relief fund,” Kumar said Monday on a visit to relief camps in flood-hit Araria district, about 300 km from here.
The chief minister said that arrangements have been made in relief camps for institutional delivery of children. But the ground reality tells a different story.
Dozens of pregnant women have died during childbirth and many newborns have not survived in the last 20 days due to lack of doctors and medicines. Many of the babies and mothers who survive suffer in the absence of milk, food and basic facilities. There are reports of women who stopped lactating due to stress caused by the flooding.
Sunita Devi, a pregnant woman in the 20s, died Monday after battling for life for two weeks due to the apathy of government hospitals in Supaul and Saharsa districts – the worst-hit by the floods.
Her husband Ganesh Yadav, of Supaul’s Machha Majurwa village, said Sunita developed labour pains Aug 23 and was admitted to a private clinic at Triveniganj, a small town near Supaul. But doctors referred her to a government hospital where there was hardly anyone to attend to her.
Yadav said that Sunita had actually suffered a miscarriage a week ago, but doctors at both the Supaul and Saharsa hospitals did not attend to her.
“She finally died in pain. It was not an isolated case, there are several such cases here,” said a grief-stricken Yadav.
“My wife was crying for medical help and her condition deteriorated, but she was not given anything by the doctors. Contrary to government claims, the ground reality is horrible,” he lamented.
Around 279,000 people have taken shelter in over 300 relief camps in flood-affected areas and 971,000 people have so far been evacuated to safer places, officials said.
But there are still around 30,000 people who are taking shelter on the rooftops of their homes, reluctant to move to relief camps, an official said. Personnel from the armed forces and government agencies are trying to convince them to move to safer places.
According to the water resources department, the Kosi continued its receding trend.
The water discharge from Barah Kshetra in Nepal was 86,250 cusecs Sunday afternoon – the lowest figure since Aug 18, when the river water started flowing on a new course after breaching the eastern Kosi afflux bund near Kusaha in Nepal.
Bihar’s Disaster Management Minister Nitish Mishra said the river continued to pose a threat to the lives of people trapped in Bihar’s worst floods in over 50 years.
The calamity has claimed at least 50 lives, according to official estimates. However, voluntary agencies fear the number could be in thousands once the bodies are recovered.
Over 2.5 million people and nearly 1 million cattle have been affected. About 100,000 hectares of farmland have been submerged and nearly 300,000 houses damaged.