Deaths in tribal Balaghat of MP raise concerns as authorities intensify outbreak response measures.
An outbreak of illness in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district has become a cause for concern for the government. The rising number of sick children arriving at hospitals from tribal areas, coupled with continuing fatalities, has exposed inadequacies in the local healthcare system. Hospitals are facing shortages of both beds and healthcare personnel. Since June, 27 children have died, and the trend of children falling ill shows no signs of abating. A child died as recently as September 3, 2026, while admissions continue daily. Affected children are suffering from symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. However, the Madhya Pradesh government claims to have been implementing rapid and sustained public health measures since the second half of July 2026, following reports of fever, rash-associated fevers and related illnesses from the tribal areas of Birsa block.
Meanwhile, the Central and state governments, along with national health institutes, are collaborating to investigate the situation, protect vulnerable communities and ensure timely medical care. Health teams have been deployed to conduct door-to-door patient identification, malaria testing, sample collection, clinical management and referral of severe cases. According to sources in the Union Health Ministry, the situation was reviewed at the national level, and a National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) was deployed to Balaghat on August 12, 2026. Public health surveillance experts, immunisation department officials and representatives from the National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC), along with an independent investigation team from the ICMR, have been deployed to the affected areas. A national-level virtual review held on August 4 assessed the epidemiological situation, reported cases of measles and malaria, laboratory strategies, entomological investigations and containment measures.
Technical teams also recommended extending surveillance and interventions to nearby sensitive areas and formulating detailed micro-plans for inaccessible villages and hamlets. Six Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) have been deployed in the Birsa and Baihar blocks. These MMUs are directly providing services to remote communities, including fever screening, OPD consultations, maternal and child health services, screening for tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases, primary diagnostics and medication. They are specifically covering areas with high tribal and PVTG (Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group) populations that are difficult to reach because of terrain and distance. So far, 32,433 people have undergone medical screening. Of these, 431 children were referred to health facilities for treatment and admission. While 379 children have been treated and discharged, 52 remain under treatment and observation. Additionally, 14,637 children aged 1–10 years have received an extra dose of the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine, regardless of their previous vaccination status, in accordance with recommended outbreak-response guidelines. Meanwhile, screenings of severely malnourished children led to the referral of 518 children for admission to Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres. Cases of diarrhoea involving 13,406 children and severe pneumonia involving 274 children were also confirmed. Furthermore, under the ‘Dastak 2026’ initiative, approximately 1.58 lakh children have been screened, and arrangements for Vitamin A supplementation have been made.
