New Delhi: Doctors and medical staff involved in the child delivery process will now be financially rewarded for following strict benchmarks in providing quality care to both mother and newborn, according to a new initiative by the Union Health Ministry.
The initiative -- Lakshya -- will be launched soon across the country to ensure proper implementation of the existing labor room protocols in order to reduce maternal and newborn mortality, a senior health ministry official said.
Steps to be taken to improve environment of natural delivery process include avoiding unnecessary induction, providing privacy to the mother during the intrapartum period, by way of separate labor room, or at least a private cubicle, use of labor beds instead of tables and a no-tolerance policy for any verbal or physical abuse of the woman.
Also, it should be ensured that the mother and the child bond immediately after birth, stressing a comfortable position during delivery rather than insisting on a universal "lying down" position.
Abolishing 'out of pocket expenditures (OOPE)' including demand by facility staff, for gratuitous payment by families for celebration of the baby's birth.
"All these are required to avoid undue stress in mothers," the official said stressing on the need to reorganise the labor room care processes to facilitate natural delivery process and to enable not only adherence to quality standards and clinical protocols, but also address issues such as respectful maternity care.
"Under the 'Lakshya', labor room teams will be financially rewarded if they meet the strict benchmarks and achieve targets in a time-bound manner as defined in the labor room guidelines," the official said.
The targets described include reduction of preventable maternal and new-born mortality, still birth rates.