At least seven more children died in last three days at the government hospitals in Sindh's Tharparkar district, raising the death toll to 113 this year, Dawn has learnt.

According to a statement issued by the health department in Tharparkar, 31 children below the age of five have died so far in the month of April in six different health facilities in the district.

The report claimed that only three children died of severe malnutrition in Thar while others died of various health conditions such as birth asphyxia, severe pneumonia, neonatal sepsis, severe acute respiratory syndrome, diarrhoea and other diseases.

Earlier, Thar district health officer (DHO) Dr Mohammad Akhlaq Khan said that he has been strictly forbidden to share such details with the media. "My higher-ups have told me to report all such cases only to them and no one else," he said.

DHO Khan preferred to say "no comment" when he was asked whether he received the directive in the context of the apex court’s suo motu notice.

The notice was taken by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on a news report published in a section of the media that more than 11,000 ailing children had been brought to six health facilities in Sindh's Mithi district for treatment since the beginning of this year and at least five infants had died due to malnutrition and diseases at the Civil Hospital.

DHO Khan was of the opinion that media is misreporting the number of deaths of the infants in the desert region.