DEHRADUN: In a bid to improve maternal healthcare in remote mountain areas, the Uttarakhand National Health Mission (NHM) will provide Rs 300 a day to attendants accompanying pregnant women to the state's birth waiting homes.
The attendants will also receive free accommodation and meals during their stay. The initiative aims to compensate them for the daily wages they lose while staying with expectant mothers before delivery.
Uttarakhand has 52 birth waiting homes across the state, each with accommodation for three pregnant women. However, only 299 women used these facilities last year, prompting the NHM to introduce additional incentives.
Birth waiting homes allow women from remote villages to stay near a health facility as their expected delivery date approaches. The facilities are especially important in hill districts, where difficult terrain, long distances and poor road connectivity often delay access to hospitals. Their importance increases during the monsoon, when heavy rain and landslides frequently block roads.
“Fifty-two birth waiting homes are currently operational across the state, and 299 pregnant women benefited from them last year,” NHM Mission Director Dr Sandeep Tiwari said.
“The objective is to support women living in remote and mountainous areas where roads are unavailable or villages are located far from motorable routes. Women nearing their delivery date can stay at these homes until childbirth,” he added.
Dr Tiwari said attendants would now be provided accommodation, food and a daily allowance of Rs 300.
Officials believe the move will encourage institutional deliveries and reduce the hardship faced by pregnant women travelling to hospitals during labour. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) are informing eligible women and their families about the facilities.
The homes remain open throughout the year, with special emphasis on their use during the monsoon.
An NHM review found that many families were reluctant to use the facilities because attendants lost daily wages. It also found that many rural families depend on livestock, and if both the pregnant woman and an attendant leave home, there may be no one to care for the animals.
Officials hope the wage support, along with free food and accommodation, will encourage more women to opt for safer, hospital-based deliveries.