CM launches 'Jacha Bacha Scheme' on I-day

Palwal, Aug 15: On the occasion of Independence Day, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday, Aug 15 launched an innovative incentive based scheme, "Jacha Bacha Scheme" to promote safe institutional delivery, decrease Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), increase female sex ratio and ensure gender equality and women empowerment.

The Chief Minister launched the scheme at the state level I-Day function here. Under this scheme, Female Multipurpose Health Workers, Staff Nurses and Medical Officers, being the skilled birth attendants, will be given performance based incentive. Each of them, who conducts a safe institutional delivery at sub centre, primary health centre and community health centre, along with other required parameters, hereinafter would receive a cash incentive of Rs 400 in case of male new born and Rs 600 for a female new born.

All payments will be made to the Auxiliary Nurse Midwife after four weeks of delivery to ensure post-partum care and neo-natal care. All children born on August 15, 2008 will be covered under this scheme.

As the implementation of the scheme would be closely monitored, every month a list of total number of pregnancies and deliveries conducted in government institutions would be sent to the community health centre and Chief Medical Officers by the Medical Officer concerned.

The scheme would help in registration and tracking of each pregnancy, provide proper and timely ante natal check ups and immunisation and also help in timely identification of high risk pregnancies and making referral arrangements for such cases. The scheme would ensure safe institutional delivery, registration of birth,immunisation at birth, initiation of breastfeeding within half-an-hour of the birth and identify low birth weight babies.

It has been observed that about 5.25 lakh deliveries take place in Haryana every year and out of these about 3.75 lakh are conducted in rural areas. In all about 39 per cent deliveries are institutional out of which only 18 per cent take place in government health institutions.

Therefore, the Jacha-Bacha Scheme would prove a step forward in utilising the government institutions for deliveries. The State Government has 50 hospitals, 83 community health centres, 420 primary health centres and 2433 sub-centres.

The State Government is committed to bring in necessary innovations regarding safe motherhood and safe childhood to achieve key goals of National Rural Health Mission, which included reduction in IMR and MMR and checking the skewed sex ratio. The IMR, which was 60 per 1000 live births in 2005 would be lowered to 42 in 2009 and 30 by 2010.

Similarly, a target has been fixed to bring down the MMR from 300 per lakh live births to 162 in 2009 and 100 in 2010.

As the State Government has implemented a number of schemes to improve the IMR and check female foeticide, the sex ratio, which was 819 females per 1000 males as per the census 2001 has started showing signs of improvement as per the civil registration system.

UNI