Maternal and child care services struggle as govt cuts existing initiatives

Instead of focusing on ways to improve facilities in government hospitals, the State government, on the contrary, appears to be determined to weaken a bouquet of existing initiatives

Hyderabad: Ten months into its formation, the State government is yet to come up with a big ticket announcement or frame a unique initiative to improve maternal and child health care services in government hospitals in Telangana State.

Instead of focusing on ways to improve facilities in government hospitals, the State government, on the contrary, appears to be determined to weaken a bouquet of existing initiatives that were specifically aimed at encouraging pregnant women to visit government hospitals for their antenatal checkups and avoid falling into a debt trap by visiting private health care facilities.

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Several major public health initiatives aimed at addressing maternal and infant mortality rates in Telangana State have been either curtailed or abandoned. Despite several initiatives sponsored by the union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), New Delhi, not a single special new initiative has been launched in place of the programmes, which are no longer getting the State government’s patronage.

KCR Kits

A case in point is the KCR Kits initiative in which pregnant women from Telangana State used to get benefitted financially for choosing government hospitals. The initiative not only fuelled regular antenatal checks but also improved institutional deliveries, as pregnant women and their families started preferring Government hospitals over private facilities. Within a year of its launch, the initiative singlehandedly increased admissions of pregnant women in government hospitals, when compared to private sector, which was not the case before 2014. The KCR Kits essentially comprised a financial incentive of Rs 13,000 (for girl child) and Rs 12,000 (for boy child) used to get directly credited to the beneficiaries’ account and a kit containing goodies for the infant and mother at the time of discharge from government hospitals. The initiative also played a huge role in fuelling infant immunisations in which Telangana State was among the top three in the country.

Amma Vodi

Another unique initiative focused at mother and child care that is not receiving proper support in government hospitals is Amma Vodi scheme in districts. The initiative entailed providing transport facilities to pregnant women, who often find it difficult to travel long distances to access the nearest government health care facilities. The mandate of 102 Amma Vodi vehicle services was to ensure pregnant women get free transport facilities for their regular antenatal checkups, during delivery and drop back home after delivery.