The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : State leads in immunisation coverage, says Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

State leads in immunisation coverage, says Minister

Special Correspondent

Survey puts infant mortality rate at 41 per 1,000 live births

HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN: Poongothai, Social Welfare Minister, greeting A. Templeton, president, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, at the inauguration of a conference in Chennai on Saturday. — Photo : M. Vedhan

CHENNAI: Results of the recent National Family Health Survey has revealed that immunisation coverage in Tamil Nadu stands at 91 per cent, the best in the country, Social Welfare Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna said.

Other health-related human development indictors in the State were also positive. As against the national average of 570 maternal deaths per 1,00,000, the State had just 90. As for the infant mortality rate, Tamil Nadu averaged 41 per 1,000 live births, while the nationwide average was 73 per 1,000 live births, she said, addressing the inaugural function of the 22nd conference of the All India Co-ordinating Committee, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (AICC RCOG), South Zone, here on Saturday.

However, the State still had a long way to go in bringing all its citizents under health and social cover. The State Government was working through projects such as Reproductive Child Health and the Integrated Child Development Services Scheme and the Health and Social Welfare Departments to provide universal immunisation against tetanus and ensure safe motherhood, delivery and family planning advice to women.

The Minister pointed to the role of public-private partnership in ensuring the well being of women. "We are striving to balance the role of the public and private sectors to maximise resources and to extend care to women whom government programmes do not reach."

The State had moved away from a target-driven approach stressing on numbers in sterilisation to a decentralised approach to help individuals meet their broader health and family development goals.

A. Templeton, president, RCOG, congratulated Tamil Nadu on its achievement in bringing the infant mortality rate down.

He called it a triumph of political will and leadership. By June, the Royal College would offer a total e-learning curriculum, which would help more persons take up training. The syllabus had been put online. The new immigration policy in the United Kingdom limited the doctors coming to the country, but the RCOG would do all it could to maintain links with India and its medical professionals. The two-day conference focusses on the theme, "Wellness of Women- Back to the Basics." It would facilitate an interaction between national and international faculty and discuss day-to-day clinical situations. Some of the topics included adolescence, contraception, pregnancy, labour, pelvic floor problems and menopause.

Alokendu Chatterjee, national chairperson, AICC RCOG, said the body would set standards for improving women's health. Moni Bansal, chairperson, South Zone, spoke.

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