Taking note of maternal and child mortality as a result of deliveries at home instead of hospitals, Bidar Deputy Commissioner Ramachandran R. stressed the need of intensifying the sensitisation of communities on the benefits of institutional delivery.
He was speaking at a programme organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare on the importance of institutional deliveries at the conference hall of his office in Bidar on Saturday.
“Non-institutional deliveries conducted at homes in the absence of medical expertise lead to complications and often end in the death of either of the mother or the newborn, or both. People in rural areas, because of backwardness, tend to go for deliveries at home and risk the lives of both mother and child. We, the government servants, especially those working in the field of health and family welfare and women and child development, have more responsibility to sensitise people on the benefits of institutional deliveries. We should ensure that all the deliveries are conducted by medical professionals at healthcare facilities,” Mr. Ramachandran said, appealing to people to cooperate with public servants on the issue and follow the advice given by health staff.
“The ASHAs and anganwadi workers have a greater role to play in sensitising people and persuading them to prefer institutional deliveries to home deliveries,” he added.
G.V. Reddy, District Health and Family Welfare Officer, said that an incentive of ₹700 in rural areas and ₹600 in urban areas would be given to those who go for institutional delivery, apart from free healthcare facility for both mother and child.