Among 9 states, infant mortality rate increases only in Uttarakhand

DEHRADUN: According to the recent findings of the Sample Registration System (SRS), an annual survey conducted by the Union ministry of health, Uttarakhand's infant mortality rate (IMR) now stands at 38 deaths per thousand births, which is an increase of 4 points over last year.

This means that more infants are dying in the state than ever before.

What is perhaps most shocking about the findings which were released late last month is that among the nine Empowered Action Group (EAG) states — Bihar, Assam, MP, UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Rajasthan(which have been clubbed together since they have the highest infant mortality rates in the country), Uttarakhand is the lone state which has not shown any improvement.

While Madhya Pradesh has improved its infant mortalities from 50 to 47 this year, UP has reduced deaths from 46 to 43.

Similarly, Assam has brought down infant fatalities from 47 to 44, Odisha from 46 to 44, Rajasthan from 43 to 41 and Chhattisgarh from 41 to 39. Bihar and Jharkhand, too, have shown an improvement by bringing down deaths from 42 to 38 and 35 to 31 respectively.

Uttarakhand has seen infant mortalities rise from 34 during the last SRS survey to 38 this year.

The state had registered a similar IMR of 38 in 2010 but had been showing improvement in its parameters over the years. Dr DS Rawat, former officiating director general in the health department who is also a paediatrician attributed the rise in IMR to "lack of dedication on the part of doctors in the state." "The doctors deployed in high priority districts aren't taking up the responsibility of stabilising the IMR of the districts in their charge with as much concern and care as they should.

Illiteracy in districts like Haridwar which has the worst IMR of 64 as per the recent survey is leading to more infant deaths."