J&K working to devise action plan to tackle high-risk pregnancies

Srinagar, May 29: The National Health Mission (NHM), Jammu and Kashmir is devising an action plan for tackling High-Risk Pregnancies (HRPs) across J&K, officials said.
Mission Director, NHM, J&K Ayushi Sudan, said maternal healthcare remains a major challenge to the global public health system, especially in developing countries.
She said a majority of women’s lives are lost during pregnancy and childbirth can be prevented with quality antenatal care and the presence of a skilled health care provider during childbirth.
“Maternal death is the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes” she said.
The MD said the move of HRPs is a specialized facility that would provide comprehensive care under one roof with super specialist surgeons would be available to treat pregnant mothers.
In the absence of data for 1,00,000 live births for J&K Sample Registration System (SRS) under the Office of the Registrar General, India (RGI), does not provide estimated Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) for J&K.
“Given the status of maternal health services, improvement is required in all aspects of maternal health, pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care. Health system strengthening coupled with strong will and community mobilization are some of the urgent strategies required in this regard,” Ayushi said.
She said social awareness through IEC, BCC regarding correct age of marriage and pregnancy and counseling couples for contraceptives for delaying first pregnancy & spacing for subsequent pregnancies will take care of many preventable deaths.
The MD NHM said the government health schemes have been successful in increasing institutional deliveries, however, there is a need to provide quality services uniformly.
“We make sure that every woman has access to information and healthcare from her home to the health facility to safely deliver baby and care for herself and her children,” she said.
The move also aims to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child by identifying and supporting pregnant women who are HIV-positive and it will link health systems with communities to make sure mothers and babies receive the quality care they need.
The health officials will review performance of all districts every month on MDSR and District/ Block medical officers will review all the Community-Based Maternal Deaths.
The NHM will work on strengthening Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) Timely identification, reporting and review of all maternal deaths.
The move will ensure round-the-clock functionality of Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) services especially caesarean deliveries at Sub-District and District level hospitals to reduce unnecessary referrals and in-transit maternal deaths.
Health officials also informed that maternal ICUs have been established in all districts to augment maternal health services especially to cater high-risk pregnancies.
“27 MICUs have been established in all districts prominently 30 bedded ICU at SMGS, 10 bedded ICU at LD Hospital, 10 bedded MICUs in all district hospitals high-end equipment which will ensure less referrals to tertiary care hospitals and decrease load of tertiary care hospitals and subsequently decrease loss of lives during referral,” health officials said.
While antenatal care is routinely provided to pregnant women, special ANC services are provided by OBGY specialists/ Radiologist/ Physicians at government health facilities under Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA).
“For high-risk pregnancies, the J&KNHM is planning to increase the existing ANC check-ups from 8 to 13 days so that no HRP is missed or unreported,” officials said