UNICEF audit of maternal deaths motivates WB govt to check them

Gwalior, Feb 18 (UNI) Motivated by the social audit of high maternal mortality carried out by UNICEF, the West Bengal Government has decided to investigate all case of maternal mortality in the state so as to improve the quality of care at health facilities.

UNICEF has carried out verbal autopsy of all maternal death cases in the backward Purulia district of West Bengal and Shivpuri and Guna districts of Madhya Pradesh to ascertain the causes of high maternal mortality there so as to influence the decision makers and stakeholders to address the obstacles to the quality obstetric care.

Based on the findings of the pilot project carried by UNICEF in Purulia, the West Bengal Government has decided to investigate all the cases of maternal deaths in the state and also undertake facility based review of medical colleges and district level hospitals. It has also decided to make all maternity beds in the public sector facilities non-paying so that institutional deliveries were ffordable to women from poor families, said Dr Sudha Balakrishnan of UNICEF who carried out the study.

Moreover, realising the problems faced by rural poor in reaching the nearest health care facility due to unavailability and high cost of transport, the state government is also working on a cashless referral transport system under which vouchers would be provided for transporting pregnant women to hospital and referral units. Besides, convergence of health and other sectors are also being planned so that nutritional needs of poor people could be addressed properly.

The social audit had revealed that of the 106 maternal deaths in Purulia between May 2005 to June 2006, most of them occurred among poor, illiterate women, about of which 62 per cent belonged to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe communities. Majority of deaths were caused due to bleeding and eclampsia It also highlighted the poor nutritional status of victims, lack of decision making power of women regarding their health, delay in going to the health care facilties and low paying capacity of the poor families.

A similar study of 105 maternal deaths in 2006 in Guna and Shivpuri districts of Madhya Pradesh revealed that majority of them belonged to BPL facilities. A majority of such deaths occurred during post partum period and many occurred while the women were being taken to referral health care institutes. The child survival was found to be poor when the mother died.

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