Two PMC hospitals to implement LaQshya program

After much scrutiny, two civic body hospitals have been selected to implement the labour room quality improvement initiative (LaQshya), which is a national level programme to prevent maternal deaths and stillbirths.

Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) was selected for the pilot project in the state and among the civic maternity hospitals, Kamala Nehru and Sonawane were selected.

Currently, PMC hospitals have a low rate of maternal deaths and stillbirths. However, the programme aims to improve health care facilities in government hospitals which in turn can help bring down the maternal deaths ratio.

Dr Vaishali Jadhav, assistant officer at the PMC health department, said, “As of 2021-20, out of the 6,610 deliveries reported in PMC hospitals we saw one maternal death and no stillbirths were reported. However, due to Covid-19, most rural patients could not avail the facilities at our maternity centres. Through this programme, we will be able to improve the maternity care facilities at our hospitals. With the help of the funds available under the scheme the PMC hospitals would be improved with the latest equipment and mannequins.”

“The two hospitals selected for development at Kamala Nehru and Sonawane Maternity Hospital which were selected after thorough investigation by a team of experts from the state as well the centre. The two centres, both nursing homes and operation theatres got over 80% and, on that basis, they got selected for this programme,” said Jadhav.

The national-level programme LaQshya was launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a quality improvement initiative in the labour room and maternity operation theatre, aimed at improving the quality of care for mothers and newborns during the intrapartum and immediate postpartum period. Although the percentage of institutional births in India has doubled from 38.7% to 78.9% the decade 2015 to 2016, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4). However, this increase in coverage has not translated into a commensurate reduction in maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths as per the National Health Mission. One of the major factors is inadequacies in the quality of care provided in health facilities.

The current figures of maternal mortality ratio of 130 and neonatal mortality rate of 24 suggest that though there has been tremendous improvement in maternal newborn healthcare indicators, there still exists a vast scope to achieve the targets set for our country. It is estimated that approximately 46% of maternal deaths, over 40% of stillbirths and 25% of under-five deaths take place on the day of the delivery. Half of maternal death each year can be prevented if we provide higher quality health care. Quality of care is increasingly recognized as a critical aspect of the unfinished maternal and newborn health agenda, mainly to care around labour and delivery and in the immediate postnatal period. Yeni Delhi