ven as the Captain Amarinder Singh-ledPunjabgovernment has been stressing on improving Health facilities, the state has been found lagging behind inmaternal healthcare, a key indicator of healthcare facilities of any state.
Though Punjab is performing at par with thenational averagebut is behind other states in maternal mortality rate (MMR), according to the latest PunjabEconomic Surveyreport.
As per the data, MMR in Punjab stands at 122 per lakh live births, which is at par with the national Average. On the other hand, Kerala has a mortality rate of 42 per lakh live birth, lowest in the country. It is followed by Maharashtra with MMR of 55 per lakh live birth, 63 in Nadu, 74 in Andhra Pradesh, 87 in Gujarat and 98 in Haryana.
In Punjab, 30.7% of all expecting mothers received all types of recommended antenatal care against the national average of 20.9%. In Kerala, as high as 61.2% of expecting mother received antenatal care, 45% in Tamil Nadu, 43.9% in Andhra Pradesh and 32.4% in Maharashtra.
To strengthening maternal healthcare, the State Government in the budget allocated Rs 65 crore for the construction of eight new maternal and child health wings at sub-divisional hospitals of Talwandi Sabo, Nabha, Patti and Derabassi and district hospitals of Muktsar and Gurdaspur, and community health centres of Bhawanigarh and Raikot. Besides, Rs 57 crore has been given for the completion of the construction work of the nine maternal and child health wings proposed in the budget for the year 2020-21.
The state fares much better than the national average and other states in terms of expenditure incurred on delivery in public health facilities. The average out of pocket expenditure per delivery in Punjab stands at Rs 1,890 against the national average of Rs 3,197. Whereas in Kerala the expenditure stands at Rs 6,901 per delivery, Rs 3,578 in Maharashtra, Rs 2,322 in Andhra Pradesh and Rs 2,136 in Gujarat.