It's a shocking number, but I'll wager that not all (or anything like all) the parents of the 2500 were physically unable to afford the food. Sadly basic neglect plays as much of a role as not having the means. That is not to try and gloss over the fact there is a problem, there is.In the first 6 months of this year, nearly 2500 children were admitted to hospital with malnutrition. That's double the admissions in the same period last year.
The sad truth is that a lot of kids only get a meal when at School and Schools have many trained people to look out for the symptoms of malnutrition. Hence why lockdown / schools closed was such a disaster and would have been driving an increase in these stats