The Hindu : Front Page : 10 maternal deaths in Madurai every month

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Oct 07, 2007
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10 maternal deaths in Madurai every month

Shastry V. Mallady

MADURAI: Nearly 10 maternal deaths are reported in Madurai district every month despite focus on maternal care by the Health Department. Even as the authorities decided to observe October as ‘make Madurai maternal death free,’ the month’s first case was reported in Tirumangalam on Saturday.

A review meeting of health projects held by Health Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran recently took a serious note of maternal mortality and officials were instructed to take urgent steps.

“On an average, 4,000 deliveries take place in the district every month. But eight to 12 cases end up in maternal deaths,” Deputy Director of Health Services A. Palanichamy said here on Saturday.

According to him, Collector S.S. Jawahar had asked the health officials at the meeting to ensure that no death was reported this month “but unfortunately the first death happened today.”

Maternal deaths occur either during the time of delivery or within days after it owing to excessive bleeding.

Dr. Palanichamy said that a maternal death ratio of one per 1000 was considered normal but Madurai district had it at 1.6 per 1000 live births. A study found that anaemia among pregnant women is a major cause for mortality.

Joint Director of Public Health S. Elango said that this problem continued to plague women right from the days of Noorjahan (Mughal emperor Jehangir’s wife), who was a victim of maternal mortality.

“Pregnant women should be cautious always and must go for check-up at the first sign of pain. Rushing to hospital at the right time will prevent mortality,” Dr. Elango said.

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