It’s a concern that the expert group on child health and nutrition does not have a pediatrician as a member, say doctors.
It’s a concern that the expert group on child health and nutrition does not have a pediatrician as a member, say doctors.
Terming Karnataka’s National Education Policy Status Paper on ‘Health and Wellbeing’ as “outrageous, outdated, unscientific and frivolous”, a group of seven doctors from Karnataka has demanded that it should be withdrawn immediately.
Coming down heavily on the paper for their “unscientific” suggestions and opinions, the doctors – most of whom are NIMHANS alumni – said they agreed that the “ridiculous and irresponsible report” was prepared by an expert group. It was presided over by K. John Vijay Sagar, Professor and Head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS. “It is also a matter of concern that this expert group on child health and nutrition does not even have a pediatrician,” he said in a statement.
Citing an example, he said, “Position paper claims about the male panchakosha, the five layers (sheath) ‘enveloping the soul’. We have received such requests from the director as well as the head of pediatric psychiatry at NIMHANS. We urge you to provide evidence for the existence of the ‘sheath’ or withdraw the paper immediately.” paper. “Otherwise, by practicing such unfounded methods, the refusal of evidence-based methods would put the health of children at risk.”
“Furthermore, the paper makes several outrageous and completely baseless claims of gene-diet interaction, natural preference for plant-based food for Indians, plant-based foods being more human-friendly, Indian food culture being the best, etc. Its Contrary to these claims, a comparison of the Indian diet with the EAT-Lancet reference diet clearly showed that Indian diets are unhealthy and that Indians consume large amounts of grains and not enough protein. It is also learned that 63-79% of our people, especially in rural areas, cannot afford nutritious food,” the statement said.
“While the position paper blames eggs and meat for ‘lifestyle disorders,’ without citing any evidence, there is now a mountain of evidence available to suggest that it is both fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose.” There is excessive consumption of sugars such as (malt sugar, cereals) which is the most important cause of non-communicable diseases… There is also substantial evidence that eggs and protein have protective effects against obesity and other NCDs, The statement said. The doctors continued, “The status paper makes high claims about equality of all children, no line pierced and no religion in an attempt to deny eggs to children.”
This group included Mangaluru physician Srinivasa Kakilaya; Yogananda Reddy, Pediatrician in Ballari; PV Bhandari, Udupi psychiatrist; Shashidhar Bilgi, Psychiatrist in Bangalore; Vasuendra N, ophthalmologist in Davanagere; Rajesh Pompapati, radiologist in Sydney, Australia and Niranjanaradhya VP, development educationist and chief advisor, SDMC Coordination Forum.