BENGALURU
Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said that the stringent measures by the state government has brought down the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) by 24%.
He told reporters that while a total of 483 maternal deaths were recorded from January to October of last year, 366 maternal deaths were recorded from January to October this year. This represents a 24% decrease in maternal deaths.
Every taluk hospital and every well-functioning Community Health Centre (CHC) will provide Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (SEMC) services 24 hours a day. Our specialist doctors have been placed in hospitals and emergency care centres with high maternity burden in places where they are most needed, he said.
In the coming days, the taluk hospital will have two gynecologists, a pediatrician, and an anesthesiologist each, and a radiologist, and delivery facilities will be available 24 hours a day. In this context, he said, a specialist doctor and two staff nurses from the CHC, which handles less than 30 deliveries per month, will be transferred to the taluk hospital.
We will continue to have one gynecologist, anesthesiologist and pediatrician each in CHCs with more than 30 deliveries. Two MBBS doctors will be filled in the place of specialist doctors in the community health center. He explained that spontaneous abortions can be done in the community health center itself, and pediatricians will be continued.
Under the Compulsory Medical Services Scheme, 125 super specialty posts are being created to provide advanced healthcare facilities and manage complications. Out of these, cardiologists, neurologists, nephrologists, oncologists, gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, geriatricians and critical care specialists will be appointed to address the shortage of specialist doctors in district hospitals, he said.
Super-specialists will be posted in 15 district hospitals. Additional posts of 104 radiologists and 23 doctors will be created. Specialists from 200 underperforming CHCs will be redeployed to more functional hospitals, he said.
By providing more doctor services in taluk hospitals, the number of people going to private hospitals or district hospitals will decrease. There is no need for stop nurses in PHCs with zero births. They will be shifted to PHCs with more births. There is a need to improve our efficiency. If we make proper use of our human resources, we can demand the appointment of additional doctors from the Finance Department, he said.
Many doctors are sitting without work. They are being paid lakhs of rupees in salary. 192 posts have been sanctioned but are vacant. We have made a new attendance system in government hospitals. Already about 95 percent of the staff have registered for the mobile biometric attendance system. Due to this, 85 percent of the staff are attending the service on time, he said.
