No vitamin-A dosage for infants in TS

Hyderabad: Vitamin A supplementation, every six months, for infants and preschool children (from 9 months to 5 years) is not being done across Telangana for quite some time. Due to no stock availability, Vitamin A doses are not being given to children visiting the 400-odd PHCs and various State-hospitals in all districts.

The State Health department said that they completely ran out of Vitamin A stocks and could continue it again only after government of India continues it, much like the Deworming initiative.Prevalence of clinical and sub clinical vitamin A deficiency in India is among the highest in the world which is why the Centre brought in the National Programme for Prophylaxis against Blindness initiative for administering mega doses of vitamin A to small children. It recommends for at least nine doses of vitamin A to be given to all children aged 9 to 59 months.

It may be mentioned here that millions of children under the age of 5 years are affected by Xerophthalmia, a serious eye disorder that can be caused by moderate to severe deficiency and can lead to blindness. Far greater numbers of children show no external signs of VAD (Vitamin A deficiency) but live with dangerously low vitamin A stores, leaving them vulnerable to infection and with reduced immunity to fight common childhood diseases. 

The WHO (World Health Organisation) states that Vitamin A deficiency affects about 190 million preschool-age children, mostly from Africa and South-East Asia. In infants and children, vitamin A is essential to support rapid growth and to help combat infections. Inadequate intakes of Vitamin A may lead to vitamin A deficiency which can cause visual impairment in the form of night blindness and may increase the risk of illness and death from childhood infections, including measles and those causing Diarrhoea.

In view of the severity of the issue, the medical fraternity had appealed to Telangana government to continue this scheme on its own and make the supplementation available for small children in all districts.

To highlight their point, doctors are making a mention of the Kanti Velugu project of Telangana government that was conducted successfully in all districts in last six months or so with the main objective of ensuring the 3.5 crore population of the State are free from eye related problems and ailments.

“The TRS government has set an example for other States in the country by implementing Kanti Velugu. If eye related issues of adults are being taken care of, they why the little ones should be left out. The need of the hour is issuing directions to the State health department to run the Vitamin A supplementation like before instead of relying on the Centre. Ultimately, this concerns the well-being of small children of the State,” Dr K Mahesh Kumar, president of HRDA (Healthcare Reforms Doctors Association) said.