Deaths of 877 newborns,: Meghalaya Assembly panel recommends survey of pregnant women

Deaths of pregnant women and 877 newborns: Meghalaya Assembly panel recommends survey

New Delhi/Shillong: The deaths of 61 pregnant women and 877 newborns in Meghalaya during the last four months of Covid19 and Lockdown has snowballed into a major issue with an Assembly panel directing the state government to act quickly to address the problem.

Things are turning worse for pregnant women in the containment zone areas.

“The situation has become very critical. These deaths are certainly a matter of deep concern. Recently a number of such cases have been reported from Shillong. If this is happening in Shillong city, you can imagine what’s happening elsewhere,” Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh, chairperson of the Assembly Committee for Empowerment of Women, told this journalist over the phone from Shillong.

“Therefore, the first thing the state government needs to do is to ensure that women safety is put on high priority, particularly for pregnant women. They should get into action mode and conduct a survey very urgently and immediately make sure that they have a correct registry of all pregnant women who will require state government’s attention,” the Congress legislator said.

As many as 877 newborn children and 61 pregnant women died in the northeastern state of Meghalaya due to lack of essential medical services, as was reported on this website.

The state authorities have earlier said the unfortunate fatalities could not be attributed to mere Covid19 and related matters only.

More than 53-54 percent of pregnant women are anaemic in the state with the figure going up to nearly 60 percent for women between the age of 15-49 years in rural areas.

State Health Secretary, Sampath Kumar, also has said there were findings that women approach health centres with multiple pregnancies without adequate birth spacing, teenage pregnancies and with severe anaemia.

The Assembly panel on Empowerment of Women had summoned the Director of Health Services recently and directed that the state government should prepare a satisfactory response and take urgent steps to put a check on this by September 15.

“We don’t even know what we are looking at….It is going to become a big problem for the state,” the MLA said.

A data comparison for April to July, 2019, was done against the same period this year, and it was found that the number of maternal and infant deaths is ‘comparatively the same’, says a state Health Department official.

The state government has decided to work on a multi-pronged strategy to approach this issue from different dimensions – clinical management, public health action, improved system and importantly the socio cultural dimension.

Therefore, officials say the Health department is undertaking weekly Mother Child Health review meetings, rigorous sensitisation exercises with active participation from grassroot healthcare workers.

Answering questions, Ms Lyngdoh said the issue of unreporting could be there especially from rural areas, but went on to add, “We are not looking at this as of now”.

“The government should immediately do a survey and keep the data ready of pregnant women so that they are attended to,” she said adding in some cases the pregnant patients have to move from pillar to post before they get admission for delivery and treatment. “In Shillong, we had cases of patients asked ‘please go for Covid test’…..and in the process in some cases, the date(s) of delivery crossed and in a few cases babies were also still born”.

Ms Lyngdoh said, “The fact that the government has not been able to take care of the citizens is very unfortunate”.

Citing one illustration, she said, “One mother had come from a containment zone in Shillong and hence she was delayed and ultimately deprived of medical attention. Her ordeal went on for 72 hours, as the local hospitals it seems kept on postponing her treatment telling her to for Covid19 test”.

Congress MLA: Ampareen Lyngdoh

#$#$

Deaths of newborn and 61 pregnant women: Social malady in 'Matrilineal Meghalaya'

New Delhi: It certainly made headlines when it was reported that as many as 877 newborn children and 61 pregnant women died in the northeastern state of Meghalaya due to lack of essential medical services following the Covid-19 pandemic.

But as the proverbial saying goes - there is more to it than it sees the eyes.

Statistics lying cold in government files reveal that Meghalaya's infant mortality and maternal mortality rates have always been high and thus attributing the figures straight to Covid19 pandemic and alleged 'negligence' of health case system could be perhaps erroneous.

More than 53-54 percent of pregnant women are anaemic with the figure going up to nearly 60 percent for women between the age of 15-49 years in rural areas, says a study.

State Health Secretary Sampath Kumar says there were findings that women approach health centres with multiple pregnancies without adequate birth spacing, teenage pregnancies and women with severe anaemia.

Health officials also say there is non- acceptance of birth spacing measures (use of contraceptives) among members of society.
People often say, birth of a child is related to God's gift and a mother's womb is 'not a graveyard'.

There are also also practice of early marriage among various sections of people, which directly contribute to teenage pregnancy and most of the time dependency of people on 'untrained birth attendants'.


There are also social issues despite the fact that Meghalaya - the home of three distinct tribal societies Khashis, Garos and Jaintias cherish matrilineal social life.

However, there is a latent patriarchy. In fact, women continue to face discrimination and barriers in terms of making the right choices insofar as reproductive rights are concerned.

Sources have maintained that the tragic deaths of newborn babies and mothers this year should not be singularly attributed to the Coronavirus pandemic. A data comparison for April to July, 2019, was done against the same period this year, and it was found that the number of maternal and infant deaths is 'comparatively the same', says a state Health department official.

Thus the state government has decided to work on a multi-pronged strategy to approach this issue from different dimensions - clinical management, public health action improved system and importantly, socio cultural dimension.

Therefore, officials say the Health department is undertaking weekly Mother Child Health review meetings, rigorous sensitisation exercises with active participation from grassroot healthcare workers.

High-risk pregnant women are being identified to bring them to health centres even before their expected date of delivery.

With a population of three million, Meghalaya has 12 big hospitals including six privately run in the state capital Shillong. Each of the 11 districts has government-run civil hospitals and there are 30 community health centres and 139 primary health centres besides several sub-centres.

But everyone is not buying the state government authorities' line. They say healthcare facilities range from poor to abysmal especially in rural areas and ever since NDA government came to power in the state in 2018, there is no innovative step to address the issues.

"There are infrastructural issues, absence of adequate medical care team. Perhaps more than than 50 percent of pregnant mothers are anaemic, thus the deaths of  877 innocent newborn children are not just accidental fatalities but equivalent to mass murder," says Shillong-based Congress leader Sanjay Das. 
In fact, he has statistics to strengthen his argument that the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) for 1000 Live Births is one of the highest in Meghalaya as compared to other northeastern states.

The Niti Aayog Data shows in 2016, Meghalaya recorded 39 such fatalities compared to 34 at the all-India level, 11 in Manipur, 12 in Nagaland, 27 in Mizoram, 24 in Tripura and 36 in Arunachal Pradesh. Of course, in Assam it stood at 44 next to 47 of Madhya Pradesh.


Das also says, during the Congress rule several new initiatives were launched in 2012. The Chief Minister’s Social Assistance Scheme for the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), Infirm and Widows (the nomenclature of which was later changed to include all single mothers) and Chief Minister’s Wedding Assistance Scheme for Orphan did help the needy sections, he says.

"It is a sheer case of paradoxical element in our lives. In Meghalaya, we have so called matrilineal social system. But when it comes to infant mortality rates, we are among the top in the country. It shows how in bad conditions expectant mothers are," says housewife Amanda Mawlong.

Commissioner and Secretary, Health, Sampath Kumar said the instances of reporting on health issues has also increased in recent months "because of close monitoring at state-level and the introduction of MOTHER app to track every delivery".

Kumar also stated that during the pandemic and lockdown, the state kept the Institutional Delivery percentage to the same as before the lockdown. This has been achieved while the state had continued to remain with the least number of COVID-19 infections per million population in the country.


ends