‘Proper registration of pregnant women must’

Kolkata: The State Health department issued an order making it mandatory for private health establishments to mandatorily conduct proper registration of pregnant women.

Private clinics under clinical establishment license must suggest the practicing doctors to encourage and promote such antenatal registration of pregnant women within 1st trimester of pregnancy.

“The early antenatal registration of pregnant women within 12 weeks of pregnancy would be an important tool for monitoring and timely intervention in reducing maternal deaths and promotion of safe institutional delivery”, reads the order.

The decision was taken after the department found that a major chunk of pregnant women approaching private health facilities cannot be tracked and not reported in the system and therefore the state has huge data loss on mother registration.

According to the order, the private hospitals should include relevant check-ups required for the first antenatal

care visit.

It becomes pertinent to start a proper registration process for pregnant women approaching private health facilities for availing health care services irrespective of the fact whether the pregnant woman is planning for delivery in the same or any other hospital.

The woman would be issued a uniform registration card.

The health department has sent the specific advisory to the chief municipal health officer of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).

The Health department has already extended facilities for women with high-risk pregnancies under the Surakshit Matritva Abhijan (SMA) scheme.

“It has been found that in some cases, women with high-risk pregnancies need an extra bit of support both before and after childbirth. This prompted us to introduce the additional facilities,” a senior official of the State Health and Family Welfare department said.