Pregnant women may soon get 24x7 aid at Karnataka taluk hospitals

Bengaluru: Taluk hospitals in the state will soon be open and functional 24/7, in a bid to provide support to pregnant women through specialists and more staff.

This is one of the many measures under ‘Mission Zero Preventable Deaths’ which DH has learnt the health department will soon be rolling out, after the proposal received an in-principle go-ahead from CM Siddaramaiah.

In a review meeting with the CM on Tuesday, health department officials said 1,205 of the 3,927 vacant Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) posts and 300 of the 2,990 vacant health inspector posts had been approved for recruitment.

These measures would ensure that maternal deaths are brought to zero, under the yet-to-be-announced policy.

“Under the policy, ANMs and ASHA workers will visit pregnant women at their homes regularly and help in identifying risks early. We are also looking at having a doctor, preferably a gynaecologist, visit expectant mothers. We will bring out this plan shortly,” Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao told DH.

A key point that emerged from the review meeting was about hospitals recruiting obstetricians and anaesthetists as per delivery rates.

“Doctors from hospitals with low delivery rates will be redeployed and availability of specialists must be ensured in taluk hospitals,” department officials said.

The state’s Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) stood at 69 deaths per lakh in 2018-20. According to the government, in 2022-24, this came down to 55 deaths per one lakh people, which is lower than the national average.

The health and family welfare department has utilised Rs 6,593 crore of the budget amount of Rs 11,182 crore it received this financial year. 

The department will work to make the medicine procurement process more transparent. “We are calling for tenders this month and will be issuing a government order shortly about having an IAS officer head the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Limited,” Rao said.