Delhi fares no better

The condition of children in the national capital, Delhi, is no better than Gujarat as 62 per cent government school students were found anaemic in a report of the directorate of health, Delhi government.

In the report released by Chacha Nehru Sehat Yojana on 29 August 2012, 39,830 students of government schools were screened for anaemia out of which 24,922 were found anaemic. The scheme to screen students for anaemia was launched in November 2011 by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit with an aim to screen all 14.74 lakh students studying in schools run by the Delhi government, municipal corporations, New Delhi Municipal Council. As per the plan, the scheme was to be implemented in five phases and in the last phase the children who were not going to schools were to be screened but this is the first and last report of the mammoth health scheme in the city so far.

Out of 24,922 anaemic students, 722 were severe, 6245 were moderate and 17955 were mildly anaemic. Similarly, in a separate check up, out of 26,500 school students, 70 per cent were found to be anaemic in February 2012. In another survey by NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) 56 out of 101 children at Kali Basti area in Delhi were found to be suffering from malnutrition in 2011.