SHILLONG: More than 13,000 infants in the age group of 0-12 months have died in the state over the past five years while the number of maternal deaths during the same period stands close to 1000.
Replying to a call attention motion moved by Mawsynram legislator, HM Shangpliang during the Assembly session here on Monday, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma expressed concern over the high infant and maternal mortality rates in the state.
Giving details, Sangma said the maternal deaths in the year 2015 stood at 211, while in 2016, it was 198.
“In the year 2017, the maternal deaths stood at 197 while it was 164 in 2018,” he said, adding that in 2019, the deaths stood at 174. This year so far, the maternal deaths stand at 61.
As far as infant deaths in the age group of 0-12 months, Sangma said the number stood at 2530 in the year 2015; 2427 in 2016; 2512 in 2017; 2074 in 2018; 2574 in 2019 and 889 this year.
“These deaths are consistently taking place, which is sad,” he said.
Informing that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had approved an amount of Rs 350 crore for investment in health infrastructure of the state, Sangma said that with the investment, there would be a lot of improvement in the community health centres (CHCs), primary health centres (PHCs) and sub-centres, adding that a lot of investment would also be made in maintaining data, which is very crucial.
“This will be a game changer for Meghalaya,” he said.
Dwelling on Meghalaya’s Outcome Oriented Transformation in Health, Nutrition, Education and Rural Development (MOTHER) programme, the chief minister said that through the use of technology, the government was mapping pregnant women and high-risk mothers across the state with specific details about their doctors, expecting dates and others.
“As we move ahead, we are optimistic that the maternal and infant deaths will reduce to a large extent,” he added.
Sharing the problem which exists, the chief minister said that over 10 per cent of the deliveries involved teenage women even as he added that over 30 per cent of the deliveries involved women with more than three deliveries and who were below the age of 30.
In addition, 40 per cent of the deliveries are unintended and unwarranted even as the government expressed concern over the lack of spacing between two deliveries.
He also asserted that the health policy of the government would lay special emphasis on the health of women and children.
Earlier, while moving the call attention motion, Shangpliang expressed concern over the high infant and maternal mortality rates in the state even as he attributed the deaths to poor medical care in the state.
He also rued the lack of adequate infrastructure in many PHCs, CHCs and even civil hospitals across rural areas of the state.
Shangpliang also said that though the government had come out with the MOTHER App and relying on it, it was time for a pragmatic approach.
The MLA said that during an emergency, people would not enter their details on the app but rather call an ambulance to enable them to reach the hospital.