There has been a marginal increase in the number of deliveries performed at government hospitals across Tamil Nadu over the last three months.
The lockdown and the surge in COVID-19 cases led to more pregnant women being referred to government hospitals, especially medical college hospitals.
According to officials of the National Health Mission (NHM)-Tamil Nadu, there was a 2%-4% increase in the number of deliveries performed at government hospitals since April. Government hospitals accounted for 61% of the deliveries during the period from April to June, while the rest were done at private hospitals. A total of 1,40,208 deliveries occurred at government hospitals and 89,576 at private hospitals during the three months.
Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar said government tertiary care centres received more number of pregnant women in the wake of COVID-19. “Many private hospitals referred pregnant women to the government sector due to COVID-19. There were referrals from primary health centres, too,” he said.
Closure of facilities
Health Department officials said that during the initial phase of the lockdown, a number of private facilities, including those offering maternity services, shut down, prompting the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services to caution them against suspension of services.
Officials said that every year, the State records 10 lakh-odd deliveries. “The number of deliveries in the government sector has always been higher than in the private sector. Of the 10 lakh-odd deliveries, around six to seven lakh deliveries happen in the government sector. However, in normal times, about 58%-60% deliveries happen in government institutions. In the wake of COVID-19, more deliveries have taken place in government medical college hospitals across the State,” an official said.
K. Senthil Raj, mission director, NHM-Tamil Nadu, said the department’s micro-plan helped to a large extent. “We have a robust system through PICME (Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation) to track pregnant women... Through this, we identified low-risk and high-risk women in all districts. Through Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram, we chalked out a plan and arranged for the pick up of antenatal mothers from their homes to the hospital. They were screened for COVID-19 at least 10 days before their expected date of delivery. This accessibility to government hospitals during COVID-19 could have been one of the reasons for more number of deliveries in the government sector,” he said.
In Chennai, the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (IOG) and Hospital for Women and Children has so far recorded 400 pregnant women who had tested positive for COVID-19. Hospital director S. Vijaya said they had received more private referrals than usual during the pandemic. “Women who had tested positive COVID-19 and high-risk deliveries were referred to IOG. In fact, women who had undergone in-vitro fertilisation in private facilities were referred to IOG, which is usually not the case,” she said.
The three government maternity hospitals, along with Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, were divided into area-wise zones and pregnant women were referred there accordingly, doctors said.