The closer one gets to a city, the theory goes, more people will prefer private health facilities over State-run centres.
Kancheepuram has bust this theory.
The district has been able to demonstrate this by increasing the number of deliveries done at Primary Health Centres within a few years.
As far as deliveries go, they can be considered a good measure of public faith in a health care system. “Just over 1,200 deliveries take place every month in Kancheepuram health unit district, and between 750 and 800 of them happen only in the PHCs,” explains K. Krishnaraj, deputy director of health services, Kancheepuram.
In fact, he claims that they have been able to draw a large number of women from private clinics and hospitals.
In 2009, 15.6 per cent of the deliveries happened in private hospitals against 8.1 per cent in 2013 (up to November). In fact, women have chosen PHCs over district headquarters and medical college hospitals too.
Besides laying down clear protocols for treating patients, what has really helped is the personalised follow-up, says Dr. Krishnaraj.
“We have a monitoring system that is close to the electoral monitoring system, daily updates that is sent right up to the district head.”
Also, each PHC is tasked to call the pregnant woman twice every day three days before due date. Involving 108 ambulance drivers and making prompt cash transfers (maternity assistance) have also helped.
“Clearly, Kancheepuram district is one of the leaders in the State. Some of the PHCs have shown tremendous improvement,” says K. Kolandaisamy, Director of Public Health. “We are aspiring to bring two-thirds of pregnant women to the government set-up.”
