Bengal to conduct national workshop on ways to reduce maternal mortality rate

KOLKATA: Bengal government is set to start national workshop on how to reduce maternal mortality rate and also to spread awareness regarding the importance of normal deliveries in hospitals. Union Health Ministry has selected NRS Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata to start national training centre.

State Health department has already taken up a series of new initiatives to increase the number of normal deliveries in the state.

It aims to bring down maternal mortality rate to zero. Besides Telengana, Bengal is probably the second state to host national workshop on the subject.

National Midwifery Training Institute (NMTI) will be set up at the NRS Medical College and Hospital.

NMTI will train nursing professionals who will take care of the pregnant mothers before and after their delivery.

The training programme is expected to start from October this year.State government has already formed an expert team which will visit those areas where maternity deaths are being reported. The main purpose is to reduce the maternal mortality rate.

The team will visit the hospitals and carry out a detailed probe in this regard.

Special antenatal clinics will be opened at all the block primary health centers where the doctors will check the health conditions of pregnant mothers at least twice a week.

It may be mentioned here that among the state run medical colleges in the city,

RG Kar Medical College and Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital have reported the highest number of maternal mortality this year.

The state Health department has already directed all the government and private hospitals to increase normal delivery instead of

cesarean deliveries.