Two-year-old boy dies of suspected malnutrition in Alappuzha

A two-year-old boy was found dead at his home here on Sunday in a suspected case of malnutrition, the police said.

An officer of Trikkunnapuzha police station said that according to doctors, the toddler was “acutely anaemic” and appeared malnourished as his weight was 7.6 kg, whereas the normal weight for his age would be closer to 12 kg.

“A histopathology test will confirm whether the toddler’s condition and death were caused due to some illness or malnourishment,” the officer said.

Five other children

He said a case for unnatural death has been registered, and following the results of the histopathology test, the future course of action will be decided. The officer said that the child’s father was an autorickshaw driver living with his wife in Karthikappally and they have five other children, including a newborn. One of their children had died earlier, he added.

The wife was admitted to the government medical college hospital at Vandanam on Saturday to give birth, and the children were at home with the father.

Child welfare committee

On Sunday morning, the father found that the two-year-old boy had died. The child welfare committee took the remaining children into their care, the officer said.

The officer further said that the couple and their children were earlier moved to a shelter home, Gandhibhavan, in view of their poor living conditions. “However, they created problems there and returned to their home here,” he said.