Malnourished babies found

BATANG, Central Java: The health agency here has placed 29 infants under a special care regime in a number of community heath centers due to malnutrition.

Head of the agency Wahyu Rahadi said 27 of the babies were found in the poor subdistrict of South Karangasem in this Central Java town, some 60 kilometers west of the provincial capital of Semarang.

He said he had suggested that the babies be treated in the town's general hospital but the parents had refused.

The agency's nutrition unit head Mohammad Amin said the malnutrition cases were found late in April during a regular weighing of children at health posts across the town.

A follow-up survey conducted in South Karangasem village revealed that the residents, who mostly work for local fishermen, could not feed their children properly due to a decline in their wages recently.

The findings have come as a surprise as Batang has never before been recorded as a regency with such problems. Malnutrition had previously been found only in Rembang, Blora and Banjarnegara. -- JP