MillenniumPost
Delhi

Survey unveils loopholes in Janani Suraksha Yojana

While schemes are made for the benefit of the common man, its effective implementation, especially at grass-roots level, still remains a challenge. A survey conducted by Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital highlighted some loopholes in the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) launched in 2005.

JSY is a safe motherhood intervention programme under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neo-natal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among poor pregnant women.

Factors such as socio-demographic factors, antenatal services availed and distance to the nearest health centre were studied for the survey and some striking results came to the fore.

During the survey, a total of 633 mothers of infants were surveyed, of which 469 had stayed in Delhi during their antenatal period and at the time of delivery. The median age of the mothers was 25 year (interquartile range — 23-28).

The awareness regarding the scheme was around 62.3 per cent, of whom 72 per cent (211) were not aware if they were eligible for monetary benefits under the scheme.

Only 7.5 per cent of the women residing in slums and resettlement colonies had proof that they belonged to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes or below poverty line category. Thereby, making it difficult for them to avail benefits under the scheme.

The institutional delivery rate was 71 per cent (333) and only 52.5 per cent (246) women covered under the scheme had delivered in government hospitals, 19 per cent (87) had delivered in private hospitals and 29 per cent (136) delivered at home. The concept of institutional delivery refers to mothers delivering babies born in the hospital

Majority of women (68 per cent) came to know about JSY during the antenatal period and place of antenatal check-up (51.7 per cent). The place of delivery (40.1 per cent) acted as the major sources of information about JSY with ASHA (accredited social health activists) acting as the third major source of information about the scheme (25.7 per cent).

As per the report, there is a dire need to improve the awareness among urban slum population about the utilisation of JSY, so as to avail the benefits efficiently.

The JSY scheme has shown an increasing trend in terms of expenditure under the programme and number of beneficiaries receiving cash benefits under the scheme.

However, there has been no detailed evaluation of the scheme since its introduction in an urban city such as Delhi.
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