BERHAMPUR: Rayagada Collector Pramod Kumar Behera on Saturday directed officials concerned to bring down maternal mortality rate (MMR) and neo-natal deaths in the district within a month.The Collector also issued show cause notices to 24 Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery (ANM) and health supervisors in this regard. As per records, as many as 15 pregnant women and 466 infants have died in the district in the last seven months. Out of 466 infants, 407 were under the age of one and the rest in age group of 1 to 5 years.
At a review meeting held recently, it was revealed that 236 sub-centres of hospitals, opened to curb high maternal mortality and neo-natal deaths in the district, have failed to deliver. Absence of all-weather roads to 591 villages in the district have been discouraging pregnant women from opting for institutional delivery.
The State Government had introduced ‘Ama Gaon Doli’ and ‘Bike Ambulance’ schemes to bring patients to the sub-centres where ANMs and health supervisors have been posted. But these measures have yielded little result.