No data for maternal mortality

NEW DELHI, JUNE 13: A reproductive health care programme was launched two years ago to prevent maternal mortality but the nation still do...

NEW DELHI, JUNE 13: A reproductive health care programme was launched two years ago to prevent maternal mortality but the nation still does not keep count of the number of mothers who are dying everyday during childbirth.

Governmental and non-governmental activists pointed this out while they were participating in a discussion after the release of a book by the NGO Population Council, 8220;Implementing a reproductive health agenda in India : a beginning8221;. Dileep V.Mavalankar of the Indian Institute of Management said not only is there no data for maternal mortality, the government8217;s infrastructure to help pregnant women is in a shambles in most States.

He said of the 130,000 ANMs or nursing assistants all over the country, only 10 per cent attend on deliveries. No deliveries occur in most primary health centres and the money that is being put into them is not benefiting the women at all, he said.

Many participants pointed out that there were well-equipped PHCs with 10 beds each, lying unused in States like Uttar Pradesh even as women are dying during childbirth without any guidance or medical help.

Radhika Ramasubban, director of the Centre for Social and Technological Change, Mumbai said medical colleges were yet to include reproductive health as part of the training given to students and consequently doctors that were coming out of such institutes either didn8217;t have any sensitivity towards the real needs of society or they quit their practice in disgust.

Yet, some speakers called for investing in training and in ANMs rather than trying to get medical colleges into reproductive health.

Manmohan Singh, MP, and Family Welfare Secretary Y.N. Chaturvedi said the absence of accountability was the main problem with the reproductive and child health programme. 8220;The very fact that PHCs are having empty beds is proof that there is no compulsion on the part of the dai or health official to ensure prenatal care to mothers and safe childbirths,8221; Singh said.

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M.E. Khan from the Bangladesh wing of the Population Council said women were not coming to ANCs or PHCs on to take vitamins and other tablets because of superstitions. But, the moment their husbands or partners were involved in this kind of a programme the attendance of women automatically increased, the member of the Bangladeshi council said.