In a startling reflection on the State’s poor maternal health, nearly 80 per cent of the 635 maternal deaths reported in 2015-16 were because of preventable causes such as post-partum haemorrhage, sepsis, and anaemia.
Although the total number of deaths are less than the 722 deaths reported in 2013-14 and 645 in 2014-15, what is worrying is that 81 per cent of the women who died were aged below 29 and 85 per cent of them were anaemic, which according to doctors, could have been easily picked up early in the antenatal period and treated.
Apart from anaemia, which is the common factor in all the deaths, the highest number of deaths (150 of 635) was due to post-partum haemorrhage (PPH), a cause largely preventable. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), PPH is “preventable and manageable”. While 111 deaths are because of congestive cardiac failure and other cardiovascular causes, 101 are due to pre-eclampsia and 78 due to sepsis.
Belagavi district has reported the highest number of 81 deaths and Udupi has reported two deaths, which is the lowest. These figures and many more facts about maternal deaths in the State have been highlighted in the first of its kind in-depth maternal death analysis done by the Karnataka State Health System Resource Centre (KSHSRC).
KSHSRC Executive Director Sadhana S.M. said the analysis was done on the basis of the maternal death line list collected from the districts. “Every case was traced up to the village and primary health centre level,” she said.
Pointing out that nearly 70 per cent of these deliveries were handled by trained doctors, Dr. Sadhana said the deaths could have been prevented if they were properly managed during the antenatal period.
According to gynaecologists, young women dying due to preventable pregnancy-related complications only indicate a programmatic failure. As per NFHS-4 data, mothers who consumed iron folic acid for 100 days or more when they were pregnant were just 45.3 per cent in Karnataka.
Akhila Vasan of Karnataka Janarogya Chaluvali said the higher number of maternal deaths grossly indicate the poor antenatal care for pregnant women in primary health centres and the increasing number of women being pushed to seek care in private hospitals.
Hema Divakar, former president of Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists, said the emphasis should now be on adequate training, skill transfer, monitoring and supportive supervision.
“We know about these problems but not much is being done to implement the solutions,” she said.
While better management and close monitoring of pregnant women can help, social factors such as child marriages and going to a hospital only after developing labour pain also contribute to complications Shoiba Saldanha, consultant gynaecologist
