Two PMC hospitals chosen to implement LaQshya programme

Pune: Two Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) in Kamala Nehru and Sonawane Maternity Hospital has been selected to implement the labour room quality improvement initiative (LaQshya) programme.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India earlier launched an ambitious program LaQshya on 11th December 2017 to Reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality, improve quality of care during delivery and immediate post-partum period and enhance the satisfaction of beneficiaries, positive birthing experience and provide Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) to all pregnant women attending public health facilities. 

LaQshya program has been aimed to benefit every pregnant woman and newborn delivery in public health institutions. The program will improve the quality of care for pregnant women in the labour room, maternity Operation Theatre and Obstetrics Intensive Care Units (ICUs) & High Dependency Units (HDUs).

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The program has been introduced to these two PMC hospitals as they have a low rate of maternal deaths and stillbirths. With the help of the program, the hospitals will improve their maternal death ratio.

While speaking with HT, Dr Vaishali Jadhav, an assistant officer at the PMC health department, said, "As of 2021-20, out of the 6,610 deliveries reported in PMC hospitals we saw one maternal death and no stillbirths were reported. However, due to Covid-19, most rural patients could not avail the facilities at our maternity centres. Through this programme, we will be able to improve the maternity care facilities at our hospitals. With the help of the funds available under the scheme the PMC hospitals would be improved with the latest equipment and mannequins."

He further added, "The two hospitals selected for development at Kamala Nehru and Sonawane Maternity Hospital which were selected after thorough investigation by a team of experts from the state as well the centre. The two centres, both nursing homes and operation theatres got over 80% and, on that basis, they got selected for this programme."

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The percentage of institutional births in India has doubled from 38.7% to 78.9% in the decade 2015-16, according to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4). However, this increase in coverage has not translated into a commensurate reduction in maternal and newborn mortality and stillbirths. One of the major factors is inadequacies in the quality of care provided in health facilities

After launch of the National Health Mission (NHM), there has been substantial increase in the number of institutional deliveries. However, this increase in the numbers has not resulted into commensurate improvements in the key maternal and new-born health indicators. It is estimated that approximately 46% maternal deaths, over 40% stillbirths and 40% newborn deaths take place on the day of the delivery. A transformational change in the processes related to the care during the delivery, which essentially relates to intrapartum and immediate postpartum care, is required to achieve tangible results within short period of time.