Official estimates record the death toll at 112, with over 100 death reported in January alone. But Jam Mehtab maintains the number of deaths is far less.
"In the past month, only 32 children have died," he said. "Doctors in Thar are complaining that the media is reporting incorrect facts and figures about deaths in the region."
Parents carrying their ailing children to hospitals are complaining of a lack of proper medication, staff, and facilities. Tharparkar Deputy Commissioner Khuda Dino Shoro, who visited the Civil Hospital in Mithi earlier, said the situation was under control and the government has taken prompt actions to provide healthcare facilities in all units of the district.
The health minister said in agreement: “There are gynaecologists and child specialists posted at every hospital.”
He said doctors in Thar have also been complaining about media’s reporting, which presents misleading numbers.
“One doctor in Thar has to do the work of ten doctors somewhere else. We should be appreciating their performance,” Jam Mehtab added.
But civil society members have expressed their concerns over the increasing death toll, and the government's failure to provide basic health facilities in remote villages.
Meanwhile, villagers in Thar have been complaining about the lack of clean drinking water. But Mehtab insists that the issue runs much deeper. For example, he said, women and children are more comfortable delivering children in the presence of dais– midwives present at home.
“There are cultural barriers at hand,” he said. “They cannot be changed quickly.”
Meanwhile, the opposition raised hue and cry in the legislature about mismanagement in Thar. Slogans of shame were hurled at the Sindh government for not handling the matter in a timely manner.
For more detail Media is misreporting Thar deaths: Sindh health minister
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