With effective monitoring and continuous interaction with women in villages, deliveries in hospitals, which were 81.5 per cent the previous year, have gone up to more than 85 per cent in Theni district, according to Collector N. Venkatachalam.
Increase in financial aid for maternity and post-delivery care and close monitoring of pregnant women by village health nurses had also contributed to the improvement in institutional delivery rate. About 75 per cent of deliveries in the district took place in hospitals in 2011-12; and 78.7 per cent in 2012-13, he said.
With improvement in institutional deliveries, mother and child mortality rates had also come down. The insurance cover helped the poor women in getting advanced health care free of cost, Mr. Venkatachalam said.