Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 23

To reduce the incidence of deaths during pregnancy, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma today asked the Health and Family Welfare Department to make efforts to stop deliveries at home in the district.

Chairing a meeting to review the working of the Health Department here today, the Deputy Commissioner said all-out efforts must be made to make sure that deliveries at home, which pose a grave threat to life of mother and child, was totally stopped in the district.

He said every effort must be made to make people aware of institutional deliveries, so that all pregnant women adopt it. Sharma said it was the need of the hour for saving several valuable lives.

The Deputy Commissioner said in the current fiscal, 208 deliveries at home had taken place in Ludhiana till July 23, which was 2.24 per cent of the total 9,017 deliveries in the district.

He said the incidence of home deliveries was on constant decline in the past few years as it was 15 per cent in 2014-15, 13.9 per cent in 2015-16, 8.5 per cent in 2016-17, 6 per cent in 2017-18 and 3 per cent, respectively, in 2018-19 and 2019-2020. However, Sharma said more efforts need to be made for completely wiping it from the district and achieving the target of zero home delivery in Ludhiana.

The Deputy Commissioner said high-risk areas must be identified in the district and strenuous efforts must be made to educate people in these areas about benefits of institutional deliveries and other welfare schemes.

He said special awareness camps must be organised in these areas to ensure that people were made aware of risks involved in deliveries held at homes.