Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Hospitals to be certified `woman and child-friendly'

By Our Special Correspondent

Chennai April 17. With at least 140 out of every 100,000 women dying during delivery in Tamil Nadu, the State Government has set itself the target of making at least one government hospital and one private hospital in every district `woman and child-friendly', providing round-the-clock emergency obstetric care.

Taking a "baby step" forward in improving the maternal mortality rate, the Government today certified a government hospital in Sholingur in Vellore district and two private hospitals in the city "woman and baby friendly".

Kicking off the much-needed programme of upgrading care for pregnant women in all hospitals in a phased manner, the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, at a function at the Secretariat here, handed over certificates to the Sholingur hospital and Vijaya Hospital and N.R.Hospitals in Chennai.

Launched by the UNICEF, the "women and baby friendly" scheme has now been "adopted" by the State Government, which was keen on reducing the stagnant infant mortality rate (for every 1,000 children born, 51 die in Tamil Nadu) and the unimpressive maternal mortality rate (MMR).

Though Tamil Nadu's MMR is better than the country's average of 407 per 100,000, Kerala has achieved a lower rate of 87 per 100,000 and Sri Lanka has brought it down to 33 per 100,000, says Dr. N.S.Iyer, Assistant Project Officer, UNICEF.

Hence, the State Directorate of Reproductive Child Health has drawn up a set of guidelines and formed a team of professionals to certify hospitals "woman and child-friendly" depending on the obstetric care they provide. Any hospital, which seeks the certificate, could approach the Director of Reproductive Child Health, according to Health Department officials.

Upgrading PHCs

In yet another effort to bring down the MMR, particularly in rural areas, the State Government would provide each primary health centre with an X-ray machine, an ultra sonogram scanner and an operation theatre.

At a brief function this morning, the Chief Minister handed over equipment worth Rs. 10.05 crores, including 57 X-ray machines and ultra-sound scanners, 385 portable ECG machines and glucometers and 100 Boyles equipment to primary health centres. She also presented keys of 20 ambulance vehicles to the centres. This apart, 300 maternity beds, 8,682 blood pressure testing equipment and stethoscopes, 8,682 weighing machines and stoves and kits would be given to health sub-centres.

The State Health Minister, S. Semmalai, the Chief Secretary, Lakshmi Pranesh, the UNICEF State representative, Tim Shaffter, the State Health Secretary, Girija Vaidyanathan, the project director, Reproductive Child Health, M.P.Vijaykumar and the Director of Medical Education, Ravindranath, participated.

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