Pregnant women, who receive financial assistance from the Coimbatore Corporation under the State Government’s Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme (MRMBS), will have to wait for the money.
Sources the Corporation said that the civic body had withheld the disbursement starting 2018-19 financial year (April 2018) as the Government was revising the disbursement pattern. Thus far, the Government had disbursed the ₹12,000 in three equal instalments – the first within the first seven months of pregnancy provided the women had undergone five check-ups, vaccination and a scan, the second at the time of delivery provided it was in a government hospital or maternity centre and, the third, three-and-half of delivery after vaccination.
As per the revised disbursement method, the Government would disburse the final instalment of ₹ 2,000 once pregnant women register within 12 weeks of pregnancy at urban or rural primary health centres and get PICME (Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation) number.
The second disbursement, which would be at the end of the third month, worth ₹ 2,000 would be in the form of nutrition kits. The third disbursement of ₹ 2,000 would be at the end of the fourth month of pregnancy if the women had undergone the mandatory medical tests. The fourth disbursement of ₹ 2,000 would be again in the form of nutrition kit.
The fifth disbursement of ₹ 4,000 would be soon after delivery at a government hospital or maternity centre. The sixth disbursement of ₹ 4,000 would be after vaccination of children and the seventh worth ₹ 2,000 would be between the ninth and 12th month after delivery if the children had undergone vaccination.
The sources said that the Government had not only changed the disbursement pattern but also increased the assistance from ₹ 12,000 to ₹ 18,000.
The nutrition kit worth ₹ 4,000 included health mix, iron tonic, dry dates, protein biscuits, ghee, disinfectant tablets and towel. Since the Government was changing the software to accommodate five cash and two nutrition kit disbursements instead of three disbursements, it had asked the payments to be stopped. This did not mean that pregnant women could not avail of the MRMBS; they could go to the urban or rural health centres get themselves registered and avail of medical assistance but would have to wait for the dole.
The Coimabtore Corporation provided maternity assistance to over 1,000 women a month and had disbursed around ₹ 5.50 crore in the last financial year.
