The Hindu : Karnataka News : Now, home-based neonatal care in rural areas

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Friday, Nov 02, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Now, home-based neonatal care in rural areas

Suresh Bhat

A baby survived thanks to the
timely medical aid extended by a local health worker

WORTHY: Women trained in antenatal and neonatal care are providing valuable service in the rural areas of Bijapur and Bagalkot districts.

SUTGUNDI (BIJAPUR DISTRICT): There was a festive atmosphere in Hanmanth Huddar’s house here when his wife Paddavva gave birth to a baby last week. However, soon it was anxious time for the family as the baby boy started becoming blue indicating an emergency health condition. There was mucus in the respiratory system. The Huddars almost lost hope as it was a 55-km journey to Bijapur, where such cases could be handled.

However, the baby survived thanks to timely medical aid extended by Suvarna Katgerimath, a local health worker trained in antenatal and neonatal care.

“I cleaned the respiratory passage with the help of mucus sucker. After a few minutes of artificial breathing exercise, the baby started responding. Now, its health condition is stable,” said Ms. Katgerimath.

She is a health worker under “Chirayu”, a unique health service launched in rural area of Bijapur and Bagalkot districts by H.T. Bidari Memorial Trust, headed by L.H. Bidari, a paediatrician.

The project provides home-based antenatal and neonatal care and aims at bringing down the infant mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate. Initially, 20 villages are covered under the project on pilot basis. As many as 23 women from these villages have been given training in the field.

Besides a monthly honorarium of Rs. 250 each, the trust has provided them with paramedical kits that include thermometers, weighing machines, ambu-bag masks, mucus suckers, warm bags, kangaroo care blouses, syringe, needles, vitamin K injections, iron tablets and some emergency drugs. Also, they are trained to assist traditional birth attendants during deliveries.

In rural India, according to Dr. Bidari, about 40 per cent of deliveries takes place at home. The infant mortality rate in the country is 65/1,000 (65 death among every 1,000 infants), while in Karnataka it is 54/1,000.

“I was thinking of doing something to minimise infant deaths at least in my region, and a meeting with Abhaya Bang during a seminar in Hyderabad helped crystallise the idea,” he said.

Dr. Bang, who set up health organisation along with his physician wife, Rani Bang, in the tribal area of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra, has helped bring down the mortality rate there by 60 per cent. They revolutionised home-based antenatal and neonatal care that has won them accolades from the World Health Organisation.

According to Dr. Bidari, within a month of their completion of training the health workers handled 116 critical cases, at least half of which, otherwise, would have been failures. The trust has so far spent over Rs. 3.5 lakh on the mission, and wants to cover more villages based on the response from the public and the administration, he said.

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