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UPSC INSTITUTIONAL DELIVERIES IN INDIA - English

INSTITUTIONAL DELIVERIES IN INDIA

Why in News?

It has been a decade-and-a-half since India started incentivising institutional deliveries to ensure safe childbirths.

About

Institutional Delivery - It means giving birth to a child in a medical institution under the overall supervision of trained and competent health personnel. It also signifies an availability of amenities to handle the situation and save the life of the mother and child.

In India institutional deliveries increased to 88.6% in 2019-2021 as per the records of (National Family Health Survey 5 (NFHS-5).

The nine targeted states Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Assam recorded a similar uptick during the period, ranging from 50-64 % points.

Maternal mortality ratio (MMR), infant mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate (NMR), have not improved at the same pace as institutional births.

Government Initiatives to Support Institutional Delivery in India

Janani Suraksha Yojana - It is being implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among poor pregnant women.

Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) - It is an initiative to provide completely free and cashless services to pregnant women including normal deliveries and caesarean operations and sick newborn (up to 30 days after birth) in Government health institutions in both rural & urban areas.

Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) - It was launched in June 2016, to focus on conducting special AnteNatal Check-ups (ANC) checkup on 9th of every month with the help of Medical officers to detect and treat cases of anaemia.

Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) - It is a maternity benefit programme being implemented in all districts of the country with effect from 1st January, 2017.

LaQshya Programme - LaQshya program will benefit every pregnant woman and newborn delivering in public health institutions. Program will improve quality of care for pregnant women in labour room, maternity Operation Theatre and Obstetrics Intensive Care Units (ICUs) & High Dependency Units (HDUs).

Poshan Abhiyaan - The goal of Poshan Abhiyaan is to achieve improvement in the nutritional status of Children and Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers .

Suggestions

• An infrastructure development plan focused on the actual patterns of use could close the remaining gaps in a very short time.
• An ideal institutional delivery needs to be defined for better monitoring of the scheme
• The workforce involved in delivery of the various government schemes need to be strengthened to bring about a noticeable change. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Auxiliary nurse midwives are the backbone of the government schemes but are severely burdened.
• India must also close the data gap, each institution must publish their morbidity and mortality data regularly. Health centres must also be incentivised to deal with such a high load.

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