Expectant mothers to be mapped in Meghalaya by year-end: Conrad K Sangma

SHILLONG: Expectant mothers in Meghalaya will be accounted for by year end and provided assistance to reach their nearest health centres as part of the government's measures to improve maternal mortality rate (MMR).
Chief minister Conrad K Sangma, addressing a national conference on e-governance, said what started as a pilot project in one of the districts with the highest MMR and lowest institutional delivery rate will now be replicated across the state.
While Sangma did not elaborate about the district, a senior health official said Ri-Bhoi is where the pilot project is being first implemented.
"Within this financial year, Meghalaya, which has a bad record of institutional deliveries, will be able to cross the national average, if not achieve 100 per cent institutional delivery rate," he said on Thursday.
"We mapped all pregnant mothers... with the same devices used by doctors, ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers," the CM said.
The exercise allowed the health workers to map and predict the weeks the mothers were due for delivery, and send ambulances to drop them at the nearest health centres.
"Within six months, the institutional delivery rate jumped 100% in that district," Sangma said.
Last year, the Meghalaya Assembly Committee on Women Empowerment (MACWE) had expressed regret on the state recording 48.6 per cent non-institutional deliveries, and urged the government to take corrective measures.
The national MMR average is 130 per 1 lakh live births. Meghalaya recorded 187 maternal deaths in 2014-15 and 211 in the following year, according to data available with the state health department.