Plan to improve healthcare facilities for mothers & infants in state-run hospitals

Kolkata: Bengal government has taken up a comprehensive scheme for the upgradation of maternal, new born and pediatric services at 68 tertiary and secondary healthcare facilities across the state with an aim to provide better treatment to expectant mothers and infants.

Mamata Banerjee government has laid great stress on infrastructure building in various health care facilities run by the state health department at the districts.

The main purpose of the scheme is to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate. Both the infant and maternal mortality rates in the districts have gone down considerably in the past seven-and-half-years due relentless efforts taken by the state government.

State government has allocated a fund of Rs 132.66 crore in the current financial year for the upgradation of various health units in the villages to ensure better maternal and new born health care. Maternal and child health care have been given top priority in the health care action plan charted by the state health department.

The infrastructural upgradation has been undertaken at the tertiary and secondary health care units which conduct more than 3000 deliveries in a year. An initiative has been taken for upgrading labour rooms, operation theatres, toilets, power backups and drinking water at different government hospitals ranging from primary health centres to state general hospitals.

It may be mentioned here that the maternal mortality rate in the state has reduced from 113 per 1 lakh mothers in 2011 to 101 in 2018 which is much below the national average of 130.

Infant mortality rate has reduced to 25 per 1,000 live births, which is much lower than the national average. The average national mortality rate is 34. What is also significant is that the state government has increased institutional delivery from 65 per cent in 2010 to 97.5 per cent in 2018-19.

The health department has also initiated the process to setting up 14 Mother and Child Hubs at different facilities across the state for ensuring qualitative and quantitative improvement in maternal and child services at various hospitals.

Out of total 14, around 9 such units, have already become operational. The remaining five are coming up at Chittaranjan Seva Sadan, Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, Silampur Block Primary Health Care (BPHC) and Sujapur PHC in Malda district and Anupnagar RH in Murshidabad in the current financial year.

Twelve Waiting Huts for pregnant women have been set up to facilitate safe delivery of infants in the remote areas. All of them are currently functioning. The health department has a plan to set up five more huts in different places. Waiting Huts have turned out to be extremely essential for the people, who have to travel a long distance to reach a hospital. The Bengal government has increased a budgetary allocation for health department from Rs 8,773.52 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 9,556.69 crore in 2019-20.