Health Ministry extends scheme for pregnant women

According to a notice sent to all state mission directors on February 14 by the Department of Family Planning under the National Health Mission (NHM), the number of high-risk pregnancy categories has been increased from 10 to 24.

“This step has been taken to save more lives of both the mother and the newborn. (Adding new categories) means a Covid-positive woman will be covered under the programme,” a senior official familiar with the matter said.

According to the Health Ministry, the states where the highest number of pregnant women in the second or third trimester received antenatal care under the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) in January were Uttar Pradesh (153,766), Andhra Pradesh (29,085), Bihar ( 24,446). ), West Bengal (16,202) and Karnataka (16,122).

So far 47.34 million women have been covered under this programme.

The government launched PMSMA in 2016 to provide fixed-day, free, assured, comprehensive and quality antenatal care to all pregnant women in their second and third trimesters on the ninth day of every month. In January 2022, the Ministry launched the Extended PMSMA (e-PMSMA) to further strengthen high-risk pregnancy tracking.

The notice said, “Further, for tracking of individual high-risk pregnancies and provision of additional PMSMA sessions, the Ministry has developed additional features in the existing PMSMA portal: Name based line of High Risk Pregnancy (HRP) -Listing, personal tracking. HRP till healthy outcome (up to 45th day of delivery), HRP categories increased from 10 categories to 24 categories, provision of additional tab, additional PMSMA session on 9th of every month for screening of pregnant women and detection of HRP. and above the 9th day of every month (maximum four times in a month), preparation of ASHA profile, statistical representation of various services under PMSMA/e-PMSMA, registration of HRP and follow-up visits to the beneficiary as well as ASHA SMS Alert. ,

Before adding the additional amount, the Ministry conducted a pilot study on the extended PMSMA in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. According to the ministry, this was done to identify challenges in implementing additional PMSMA components and address any issues or technical glitches. Accordingly, suggestions/feedback are incorporated in the portal.

“Further, as decided, similar services will be implemented in all States/UTs to enable proper follow-up, tracking and management of all high-risk pregnancies, hence all concerned are informed about its reporting. “It is requested to provide instructions for adding the above additional features in the PMSMA portal on regular basis,” the notice read.

Some high-risk conditions of pregnancy are severe anemia (hemoglobin less than 7 g/dl), pregnancy-induced hypertension, pre-eclampsia, pre-eclamptic toxemia, syphilis/HIV positive, gestational diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, young primi (low ) above 20 years) or elderly gravida (above 35 years), twin/multiple pregnancy, low lying placenta, placenta previa, positive bad obstetric history (history of stillbirth, miscarriage, congenital malformation, obstructed delivery, prematurity birth etc.)

Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, citing United Nations Inter-Agency Maternal Mortality Estimates, told the Rajya Sabha during the last Parliament session that maternal mortality rate in India has declined by 6.36% between 2000 and 2020, which is faster than the global decline. More than. Group (MMEIG) 2020 Report.

“India’s maternal mortality rate (MMR) has declined from 384 in 2000 to 103 (per 100,000 births) in 2020, while the global MMR has declined from 339 in 2000 to 223 in 2020. The average annual rate of decline in global MMR is 2.5 per cent per 100,000 births. “While India’s MMR declined by 6.36%, it was higher than the global decline,” she said.

Dr Hrishikesh Pai, former head of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India, said the program is going well and has helped reduce mortality in India. She said, “The target set by India for MMR by 2030 is 70 per 100,000 and some states are doing really well, such as Kerala and Maharashtra. It is good that more factors are included in the high-risk pregnancy categories.” “

An email sent to the Union Health and Family Welfare seeking comment remained unanswered till press time.

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Published: February 23, 2024, 10:10 PM IST