COIMBATORE: The Health and Family Welfare Department in the district has intensified monitoring of high-risk antenatal (pregnant) women to further reduce the district's maternal mortality rate (MMR), which dropped to 23 in 2023-24, placing it sixth in the state, from 71 in 2022-23.
Health department sources attributed the drop to intensive fieldwork and tracking of antenatal mothers, especially the high-risk ones. Coimbatore records more than 50,000 childbirths per year.
On average, more than 40,000 antenatal mothers register with the health department every year. The count stands between 110 and 120 per month. Of this, 40% of women are in the high-risk category, depending on their physical and mental health.
“We have categorised high-risk women, which helps us track and follow up on them. Earlier, the registration was low. Now, Village and Urban Health Nurses regularly communicate with the registered women to know their health status. Also, they would check their health periodically to prevent fatalities,” said P Balusamy, deputy director of Health Services, Coimbatore district.
“Though monitoring the health of high-risk mothers is usual, now we have taken steps to reduce the maternal mortality rate of Coimbatore district, Balusamy added.
Once a month, the district collector holds a meeting to audit the deaths to understand the reasons and plan strategies to prevent them. There is a WhatsApp group comprising all private and government hospital medical officers and obstetrics and gynaecology experts. If a pregnant woman is transferred from one hospital to another, the information is shared in the group to track them. If they change residence to another district, that information is also shared with the respective district health staff for regular follow-up, said sources.