DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand state health department is drafting a 'Birth Plan' for pregnant women across the state.
The initiative is launched so that the would-be mothers are taken care of and do not suffer any health complications.
Amita Upreti, director-general of health department, Uttarakhand said, "The plan is to enlist all pregnant women and monitor their health continues to provide medical aid throughout. Health workers have been instructed to collate the data."
Priority will be given to women living in remote areas of the state who are to deliver within three months of time. The women will be transferred to 'Mother Waiting Centers' to minimize casualties due to delay in reaching hospitals.
These centers will provide facilities to pregnant women prior to their delivery. The aim behind the proposal is to minimize problems faced by women in remote hill areas who are unable to reach hospital in time for medical assistance.
The centers will be within 500 meters to one kilometers of range so that medical help can be provided in time.
Casualties have been reported in hilly areas of Uttarakhand earlier due to delay in reaching hospital in time fue to difficult terrain and unavailability of medical facilities.
According to a report released by central government in November 2019, Uttarakhand fared well in terms of maternity mortality report. In the report the hill state is said to be
recording 89 deaths per lakh deliveries between 2015 and 2017 as against the national average of 122.
In 2018, taking serious note of rampant child marriages in the state which resulted in early pregnancy risking women's' lives, Uttarakhand HC directed the state government to enforce the provisions of Prevention of Child Marriage Act, 2006.
The court had also directed the state government to appoint 'Child Marriage Prohibition Officers' in each district of Uttarakhand state and give 'due publicity' to the Act