LaQshya programme to bring down child, mother mortality rates restarts

BENGALURU: The Karnataka Health Department has resumed the ‘LaQshya programme’ after a gap of three months due to the lockdown. The programme improves maternal and child health wings in government hospitals to make them eligible for LaQshya certification. This is aimed at improving the quality of intra-partum (during delivery) and post-partum (post-delivery) care in the labour room and maternity operation theatre, which brings down maternal and child mortality, as well as morbidity.

Dr N Rajkumar, deputy director, Mother Health Programme, said, “The action plan involves improving infrastructure at hospitals for maternity services and adding human resources to fill vacancies among others.” Since the programme began in Karnataka on April 1, 2018, 12 out of 124 hospitals have been LaQshya certified, while 10 more, including the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Hubballi, are in the pipeline. 

“We handhold and guide them on improving quality and they are given 18 months to meet 600 criteria on the checklist for LaQshya certification. After the state inspects them, another independent team from the Centre too pays a visit,” Dr Rajkumar said.