By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma on Friday launched the Maternity Benefit Scheme at a Health mela organised at the C&RD Office at Pynursla in the presence of local MLA Prestone Tynsong, East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Sanjay Goyal and a host of government dignitaries and officials.
Addressing the gathering after launching the scheme, Dr Sangma urged the women of Pynursla and its adjoining areas to opt for delivering their children at the CHC in Pynursla itself and the PHCs as opposed to the wide practice of delivering children under the supervision of untrained people.
The two-day Health mela is being organized by the East Khasi Hills District Health Society.
Citing figures of institutional delivery, the Chief Minister informed that in 2007-08, there were 99 such deliveries and in 2011, the figure went up to 146. The CM also informed that there is a facility for free transportation which includes picking up and dropping off pregnant women to and from the government hospitals. Dr Sangma elaborated on this by saying that this programme was started last year when an agreement was signed with the Ganesh Das Hospital and the transportation service providers.
Dr Sangma also handed over cheques to the beneficiaries of the Maternity Benefit Scheme. Under the scheme mothers are provided a sum of Rs 4,000 by the State Government for the first two children delivered in government hospitals. Dr Sangma also said that the Central Government has designed the Rashtriya Swasthya Vikas Yojna (RSVY) to provide insurance coverage to families in the BPL category, while adding that the Meghalaya Government will go a step further by launching a new health insurance programme called the Megha Health Insurance Scheme. According to Dr Sangma, this scheme will be launched by the first week of November and would cover not only BPL families but all families across the State with insurance to the tune of Rs 90,000.
