Maharashtra Public Health Minister Prakash Abitkar on Friday (December 12, 2025) stated that the 14,526 children under the age bracket of zero to five died in seven districts of the State over the past three years.
In a written reply to BJP legislator Sneha Dubey’s question, Mr. Abitkar said, “The 14,526 child deaths have occurred in the age group of zero to five years, while 303 SAM children and 2663 MAM children recorded in the state under the age of 6 months and 6 years have died in the last six months.”
Sneha Dubey questioned whether it is true that despite the implementation of schemes worth crores of rupees to prevent child mortality in the state, the 49,080 children died from zero to five in the districts of Pune, Mumbai, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Nagpur, Amravati, Akola and Yavatmal in the last three years?
To which, Mr. Abitkar replied, “This is partially true.” He agreed that in the tribal areas of the state, especially Palghar district, as many as 138 children died between the ages of 0 and 6 in the last six months due to serious illness and a few deaths due to malnutrition. He also agreed to legislators’ question whether 269 children are suffering from serious diseases, 68 children are Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 835 children are Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM).
