District-level medical teams to study factors leading to maternal, infant mortalities

An action plan will be in place soon to bring down the number of maternal and infant deaths in Andhra Pradesh, according to Minister for Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare Satya Kumar Yadav.

In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Satya Kumar said, as part of the plan, a team of three doctors, including a paediatrician, gynaecologist, and a doctor specialising in preventive medicine, had been constituted at the district level to investigate factors contributing to the deaths.

The team would identify if there were any gaps in medical services being provided to pregnant women, new mothers and infants.

With the support from the World Health Organisation and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the medical experts would assess the services, following guidelines stipulated by the Union government in the ‘India Newborn Action Plan’ framework, he said.

The teams formed in every district would visit all government hospitals and inspect the services being provided to women and children of up to five years, and also gather feedback from the patients.

Based on these, the teams would submit a report to the Health Department, following which an action plan would be formulated at the district and State levels to ensure that the shortcomings were addressed and not repeated, the Minister said.

At present, the infant mortality rate (IMR), which measures deaths of infants happening under one year, in Andhra Pradesh is lower than the national IMR.

“In the State, out of every 1,000 live births, 19 are dying,” the Minister said, adding that at the national level, the rate was 25 for every 1,000 live births. Giving details, the Minister said, out of 19 deaths, 16 were happening in the first 28 days of birth, which was called the neonatal period.

On Wednesday, a workshop was organised for the medical experts, wherein they were instructed on how to gather information from hospitals. Health officials explained to them the measures being taken to bring down IMR in the State. Representatives from the WHO and UNICEF, who were also present, outlined additional measures that were required to achieve the goal.