MITHI: Like other government departments in Thar region, the population welfare department has almost ceased to exist as over half of its centres are lying closed and the rest fail to provide adequate healthcare services for lack of facilities and staff, it was revealed on Friday.

Most of the centres in the vast arid zone of the country have been lying closed due to shortage or complete absence of staff, depriving several thousand people living in the area of expert advice on birth control, use of contraceptives and other family planning methods which is also contributing to unabated deaths of pregnant women and infants.

Ghulam Rasool Memon, district officer of the population welfare department, declined to share with media any details about the closed centres, saying that all information was available on the official website of Sindh government. “I have been directed not to share the details of the department with media persons,” he said. He, however, added that the department would recruit more than 200 staff to fill vacant seats and run the closed and new centers established in every nook and corner of the district.

According to official documents obtained from credible sources, the copies of which are available with Dawn, there are 31 centres in the district, which are working without more than 98 staffers, including those of key posts, greatly hampering work even in the so-called ‘functional centers’.

Advocate Kashif Bajeer, regional manager of the Society for the Protection of the Rights of Child (Sparc), deplored that the situation was getting from bad to worse due to lack of interest on the part of local lawmakers and those affiliated with the ruling party.

He regretted that at a time when deaths of infants had attained alarming proportion, the department responsible to guide people to adopt methods to prevent growth rate and make progress on Sustainable Development Goals regarding sexual and reproductive health was itself in a shambles.

Mr Bajeer asked the Sindh government to order a thorough inquiry into the matter and stop the rot in the highly vulnerable district.

He warned that if the department did not come up with all details at a proper forum, he would himself file a petition in the Sindh High Court on behalf of people of the district.

He said that lady health workers of both health and population welfare departments never bothered to visit remote villages for carrying out regular check-up of pregnant women and alleged that many workers, who were supposed to perform outdoor duties, were instead working with NGOs.

Mr Bajeer accused local health officials of misappropriating and misusing public money by renting private buildings to set up offices and allowing influential people to use as autaqs the buildings constructed for the purpose a few years back.

He said that it was the need of the hour that a court should form a judicial commission to probe massive corruption in all government departments in Thar.

Mr Kirshan Sharma, a social activist, said the government was least interested in addressing basic issues of the region. The rulers only boasted of making Thar a modern district as they did not have any sustainable policies, he said.

He observed that there was a need to look into the basic issues, which were the main factors behind the continuing mess in the region.

Mr Sharma believed that hardly any person in villages across the length and breadth of Thar knew about the birth control methods. The high-ups of the department as well as lawmakers were equally responsible for the poor state of affairs in Thar, he said.

He said that Thari mothers usually gave birth to seven to 10 kids because of the old curse of early marriages and lack of awareness. Not only the government functionaries but also the NGOs concerned which were receiving huge funds for creating awareness about birth control in the wake of unabated deaths of infants were equally responsible for the sorry state of affairs, he said.

Dr Shaikh Tanweer Ahmed of the Health and Nutrition Development Society said that it was the need of the hour to look into the sensitive issue of birth control. Lack of awareness about family planning among people was the prime factor behind unabated deaths of children and pregnant women, he said, adding that his organisation was ready to help the department concerned to make its mechanism more effective.

He said that despite plentiful rains this year so far infants would continue to die as no work was being done on nutrition nor on family planning in the desert region.

“The government cannot prevent deaths of infants and expecting mothers unless all basic issues confronting the region are addressed,” said Mr Sharma.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2017