To reduce the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) in tribal-dominated areas, the state government will reach out to pregnant women to increase the rate of institutional deliveries. The pilot project will be launched at Melghat in Amravati and later expanded to other areas with a substantial Adivasi presence like Wada and Mokhada in Palghar district.
Health minister Dr Deepak Sawant said that they were collecting the data of pregnant women in Melghat and these ladies would be counselled one-on-one regarding the need for institutional deliveries. "The purpose is to reduce the MMR," he added, stating that there had been concerns about an increase in such deaths last year, with the Amravati division, under which Melghat falls, accounting for around 300 mortalities.
According to the Economic Survey for 2014-15, the maternal mortality ratio during 2010- 2012 was 87. The MMR is a ratio of deaths of women during or soon after a pregnancy per one lakh live births. The MMR is used as a measure of the quality of a health care system and one way of lowering the ratio is through a system of institutional deliveries.
Though Maharashtra fares well as compared to the national average of 178 for India and states like Assam, which has a much higher ratio of 328, Kerala, which is known for its model of social development, has a much healthier ratio of 66.
"The program has a system to track (pregnant) women in it. An official of the rank of an additional district health officer will monitor it," said Sawant, adding that once the pilot project stabilised at Melghat, it would be expanded to other areas like Wada and Mokhada.
However, Sawant admitted that the problem lay in the seasonal migration of tribals for work to areas in the state and even outside it. The tribals migrate for employment in the summers and return to their villages and hamlets only during the monsoons. It will be tough to track pregnant women during this intervening period. Many tribals from border districts also seek work in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
The state health department will also review the working of the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and re-deploy the 937 ambulances from areas where they are underutilised to sectors were there is a demand for the scheme. The ambulances can be accessed by calling on the number 108.
The 'Blood on Call' scheme will also be revamped by creating blood storage units in the cluster of at least four primary health centres (PHCs). "This will enable people to get blood easily," said Sawant.
