Govt may rope in private hands for neonatal care

“We have hired a consultant for this project and we will empanel private hospitals and pay them per patient for their services,” said JP Singh Principal Secretary,Delhi government. As of now,the government has a scheme for institutional deliveries but after the babies are born,there is no scheme focussing on their health during the first year of life.

“This will be complementary to Mamta scheme,” said Singh,“our main focus is to improve the care given to an infant in the first year of life.”

Under the Mamta scheme,the Delhi government pays Rs 4,000 to private hospitals per patient for providing comprehensive healthcare to pregnant women — including antenatal care,institutional delivery,newborn care and post-natal care.

As in the Mamta scheme,once the details of the neonatal care scheme is finalised,nursing homes and private hospitals will enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government.

According to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) Bulletin by the Centre,35 children die in every 1,000 births in Delhi.

While the Capital is doing much better than other states,a lot needs to be done before the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of 30 per 1,000 births is achieved. The national average is an abysmal 53 per 1,000 births.

Infant mortality in Delhi
* Almost 20 per cent of the total population of Delhi lives in slums. Delhi has the highest slum population in India after Mumbai.
* There is a huge gap in the under-5 year child mortality rate between the urban poor (73.6 per 1,000 births) and the urban rich (41.8 per 1,000 births).
* According to the Economic Survey of Delhi for 2008-2009,the infant mortality rate has doubled from 12.9 per 1,000 births in 2006 to 25.4 per 1,000 births in 2007
* Early initiation of breastfeeding (within the first hour) — a key to prevent newborn mortality — is extremely low — 13.6 per cent — among the urban poor
* An estimated 83 per cent of urban poor mothers give birth at home without skilled attendants
* Malnutrition has increased too
* Access to healthcare for urban poor is grossly inadequate,especially for mothers and infants
* Lack of hygiene mainly due to poor access to water and sanitation in the slums add to child mortality
(Source: SRS Survey by the Government of India)