SHILLONG, Jan 25: Health Minister James PK Sangma has asserted that the maternal mortality rate in Meghalaya has come down by 9% as the Health department was able to establish the required infrastructure combined with the deployment of trained professionals.
The statement came from Sangma as MMR and IMR were relatively high in Meghalaya and many mothers and infants have lost their lives in the recent past due to different issues including that of malnutrition.
Expressing his happiness over the decline in mortality rate, he said that thousands of pregnant mothers are able to deliver healthier babies safely now. “Further, many more infants are receiving adequate nutrition, reducing the Infant Mortality Rate by 21%. More than 2 lakh mothers have benefitted from our programs and schemes till date. Today, 91% of our children are immune to any deadly infection or disease, a feat which very few states have achieved in the entire country,” he said.
Asserting that the affordable quality healthcare and accessibility were the priority of MDA Government, Sangma said quality healthcare, affordable treatment and accessible facilities were mere words for a long time in Meghalaya as sick persons were suffering without adequate treatment and families were pushed to the brink of poverty as they spent their savings due to the lack of sufficient government support.
According to Sangma, the government had resolve that healthcare must be treated as priority and the government, under the leadership of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, deployed many initiatives which saw significant improvements in the healthcare system of Meghalaya.
“One of our first goals was to make healthcare more affordable, which previously impacted people from the rural areas and the ones from financially weaker backgrounds. As the government kept on investing in this goal, by 2022, we were able to increase health insurance coverage to Rs 5.3 lakh per head for all citizens of our state under MHIS,” he said.
Stating that the government was able to dramatically transform the healthcare infrastructure of the state, especially in areas where even a basic clinic felt like a boon before, he said that in Jengjal in West Garo Hills, people had to earlier travel for miles before being able to access a basic health facility but now the Jengjal Sub-Division Hospital, which is run by highly qualified doctors from the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore, has become one of the best government hospitals in the whole of Garo Hills.
Informing that they were able to put in place a 100-bedded facility at the Baljek Integrated Health Complex where high-quality treatment and specialised care has been made available, he said that the government is working to ensure creation and upgradation of about 2,000 health centres across the state, so that no person in any village has to suffer due to the lack of treatment.
He further said that many far-flung areas of the state are now connected as the Health department initiated the development of tele-consultation clinics all over the state for such remote areas so that patients would no longer have to travel long distances to avail medical advice.
“Today we have managed to establish 80,000 such clinics across the state. At the same time, we supplemented this system to ensure that medicines and other essential medical aid are available to these areas in a timely manner. This is where our state became one of the first states to begin Drone Delivery of medicines,” he added.
Sangma also pointed out that since the state is doing well in health sector in last five years, and it is for this reason that Meghalaya has been bestowed with many awards by the Centre, by international organisations and by other organisations of eminence.
