Terming women and children's health is the topmost priority for the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government, Punjab Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir Singh on Tuesday announced to introduce all kinds of technological interventions at the government health facilities to reduce the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the state.
Currently, the Punjab state records an MMR of 105 per one lakh live births as compared to the national average of 97.“I urge all the medical officers of the state to come forward and imbibe good practices to help the state in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Target of MMR 70,” he said, while assuring them to incentivise the best-performing doctors in the state.
Dr Balbir Singh was presiding over the inaugural session of a State-Level workshop on ‘Tech Interventions for Maternal Mortality Reduction’ organised by the Punjab State Council for Science and Technology in collaboration with AIIMS, Bathinda, Department of Environment and Climate Change, Punjab and the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Punjab.
The Health Minister said that the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann led Punjab Government will not compromise with the health of people, especially, women and children.“We will introduce every technological intervention, whether its Non-Pneumatic Anti Shock Garment (NASG) or Uterine Balloon Tamponade (UBT), at our government hospitals to reduce the Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH) related maternal mortality in the state,” he said.
Earlier, Executive Director PSCST Dr Jatinder Kaur Arora highlighted how the introduction of two low-cost interventions including NASG and UBT, at all delivery points of two districts-Bathinda and Faridkot— led to the management of 73 lives of mothers affected with critical PPH-related conditions. She urged the Health Minister for its effective dissemination in other districts of Punjab.
Dr Lajya Devi Goyal and Dr Dapinder Kaur Bakshi, Project Leaders from AIIMS Bathinda and PSCST respectively shared that the project approach included making UBTs and NASGs available at different delivery points and extensive hands-on training of healthcare professionals, which led to a significant impact in terms of preventing maternal deaths due to PPH.
Director of Health Services Dr Adarshpal Kaur exhorted medical professionals on early identification of PPH and other danger signs, and timely referral of such patients. She also insisted on making referral protocols for all the health institutions.
Meanwhile, State Program Officer Dr Inderdeep Kaur, Assistant Director Department of Health and Family Welfare Punjab Dr Vineet Nagpal were among the other health professionals including gynaecologists, nurses and technicians from all 23 districts of Punjab, who participated in the State Workshop.