Raelene Kambli, EH News Bureau
Rotary Club of Mumbai, Government of Maharashtra, Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and NGO Pragati Pratishthan have joined hands to initiate a pilot project for reducing Maternity Mortality Ratio in the rural areas of Thane district in Maharashtra. This campaign aims to reduce maternal and new born child mortality through collaborative action and training at all levels, from basic emergency obstetrics and new born care (BemONC), following the World Health Organisation (WHO) standards. So far, five medical camps have been organised in the areas of Jawhar , Mokhada and Vikramgarh.
The project began with a pilot study that highlighted anaemia as the biggest cause of maternal deaths among women living in these areas.
Dr Anuja Purandare, Trustee, Pragati Pratishthan – NGO informed Express Healthcare that while conducting their research they found out that the haemoglobin levels among women living in these rural areas of Maharashtra was between 6-9 grams per decilitre of blood. Further explaining the projects and its activities, Dr Purandare informed that the project is being implemented through medical camps that include screening and treating patients. It will move on to conducting training programmes for general nursing midwifery (GNM) and auxillary nurse midwife(ANM) by the end of January 2013, working in the primary healthcare centres within these areas.
Volunteers and professionals from Rotary and IMA will be conducting these camps. After receiving vocational training, they will travel to the target areas and offer hands-on skills training as well as assistance with the time bound plan for correction of deficient resources.
Adding to this, Dr Bharat Mahale, Gynaecologist, Patangshah Cottage Hospital, Jawhar said, “Anaemia is the biggest cause of maternal mortality. Nearly 70 per cent of women die during child birth due to lack of haemoglobin levels. Being a government run hospital, our duty is to bring in patients from their homes to the PHCs in order to examine them clinically and also by conducting lab test. Once we know that a particular patient has a haemoglobin level of around eight grams per decilitre of blood we provide them with iron rich medicines and if it is less than eight we have to provide them with injectables. These medicals are provided by OPPI.”
Rotary International, who is the main initiator of this project has many plans for this project. Says, Dr. BM Inamdar, Rotary Governor, Rotary International, “This initiative has been started with the intention to reduce maternal mortality rate in India. We have targeted rural areas since the mortality rates are higher than those in urban areas. Apart from reducing the death toll, we also aim to bring down the number of home deliveries within rural areas of India.”
He also informed that as part of their project, Rotary will provide training facilities and also look out for refurbishing OTs and PHCs run by the government within these areas. “We have planned to conduct medical camps in these rural areas of Maharashtra for a period of three years after which we will move to other parts of Maharashtra. After Maharashtra, Rotary also wishes to target other states of India,” he added.
OPPI is of the opinion that initiating such programmes is the need of hour. Vivek Padgaonkar, Director and the one leading the MMR project on behalf of OPPI stated,“Statistics reveal that every year 200 out of 1000 pregnant women die during child birth. Moreover, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5A of the UN aims at three-quarter reduction of maternal mortality ratio between 1990 and 2015. Slow progress in this effort has plundered many initiatives. Therefore, a well organised effort in this regard is a must. We are glad that our member companies have been supporting this healthcare objective by donating medicines and providing volunteer support. We hope that with this effort we will be able to bring down MMR in our rural areas.”