Other States - Orissa   

High maternal mortality among tribals, says women panel

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa State Commission for Women (SCW) said poor health infrastructure and absence of adequate skilled manpower has led to deaths of hundreds of mothers during child delivery in the districts dominated by remote tribal villages.

The SCW, which conducted ‘Safe Motherhood Adalats (SMA)’ in 22 districts with the support of UNIEF, released its findings here on Monday. “Is the health administration ready to meet the need for an augmentation in infrastructure and manpower? The truth is despite of growing demand for quality health care and support, it has not reacted how to address the pressure that is being put on the medical officers at health centres,” the commission said.

During last three months, the SCW visited tribal dominated districts and met scores of government officials, doctors, citizen groups, NGOs and ‘desperate’ mothers. Maternal mortality rate is as high as 619 in rural areas and stands at 358 per 1 lakh live births in Orissa.

The SCW said the health administration’s lack of interest in addressing the problem of capacity building of health

centres to meet a growing demand must change, otherwise whatever little fait the community reposed on the health system would soon be lost again. The commission narrated that the plight of women in primitive tribal communities was pathetic. “In these tribes, women have no name. They are either referred to as members of a particular village, community or as someone’s daughter or daughter-in-law. These communities do not practise family planning.

As a result, women bear minimum four to five children and die at young age,” the report said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Focus on collective effort
High maternal mortality among tribals, says women panel
It’s the time for families’ day out
Dolphin research goes hi-tech
Workshop on child labour
Teachers launch 48-hour dharna
Mahanti case: Cuttack police leave for Rajasthan
Marks scandal: more arrests likely
Motorcycle lifters’ gang leader held
Chain-snatching charge against choreographer
Naveen for talks with farmers

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu