MYSURU: How good is the quality of the rural road network in Karnataka? It does not really inspire confidence, if you go by the mode of transportation pregnant women choose to reach hospitals ahead of child deliveries. A whopping 83.2 per cent of expectant mothers opt against taking ambulances in five districts of the state where maternal and infant mortality rates are high. The reason: The surface of the roads is not even enough for them to take ambulances for their delicate journeys to hospitals.
They rely on the modes of transportation like their own vehicles, autorickshaws and taxis which they find more comfortable than ambulances considering the surface of the roads. The survey, titled ‘An evaluation study of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) assisted under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and undivided Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana)’ was conducted for a period of two years from June 2015 to 2017.
It was taken up with a grant of Rs 19.35 lakh released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, focusing on those districts where both maternal and infant mortality rates are high. The 300-page report has been submitted to the health and family welfare departments of the three states and the Union government.
The districts covered in Karnataka are Chamarajnagar, Koppal, Kalaburagi, Bidar and Vijayapura; Salem, Madurai and Sri Perembadur in Tamil Nadu; and Kurnool, Ananthpur, Mahboobnagar and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh-Telangana. Dr D C Nanjunda, an associate professor at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy in the University of Mysore, who was the principal investigator, told Express that the study was based on 28 indicators.
“While incidence of pregnant women relying on their own vehicles or other modes of transport like autorickshaws and taxis is recorded at 83.2 per cent in Karnataka, it is the highest in Tamil Nadu at 85.4 per cent and 81.4 per cent in Andhra Pradesh”, he said. Nanjunda said, “though 108 Ambulances are adequate in numbers, people refrain from making use of them due to muddy and rough surfaces of the roads in remote areas”.
There are also incidence of expectant mothers travelling to hospitals in bullock carts in those areas, he said. Strangely, most of the beneficiaries of the health scheme do not claim even trave l reimbursements. It can be attributed to the procedure involved in claiming the benefits. “The documents of the vehicles should be in order and receipts should be issued - the main criterion to avail of reimbursement”, he said.