KATHMANDU, AUG 08 -
The Family Health Division (FHD), under the Ministry of Health and Population, is all set to provide blood free of cost to pregnant women starting this year. The MoHP has been conducting free maternal services, from routine check-ups during pregnancy to delivery care, in all government hospitals, birthing centres and selected private hospitals.
“We had been giving all services related to pregnanancies for free, except blood. With the government now providing blood for free, we can hope to reduce maternal deaths from blood loss,” said Dr Sinendra Raj Upreti, Director at the FHD. He said that the services will be carted to select district hospitals outside the Kathmandu Valley and other big municipalities. The government has allocated two million rupees for this purpose.
Dr Shilu Aryal, an official at FHD, informed that 26 districts including Dailekh, Nuwakot and Solukhumbu have been identified to begin the programme. Aryal said the FHD will coordinate with the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), which will talk to the concerned Red Cross Society in the district, which in turn will provide the blood to the needy mothers.
Dr Aryal further said they are working closely with the NPHL to make sure that the free blood goes only to pregnant mothers.
The FHD estimates that there are around 770,000 pregnant women every year. Although all of them do not require blood, the 2008-09 Maternal Mortality Survey showed that 24 percent of maternal deaths were due to postpartum haemorrhage, a loss of great amounts of blood from the body during delivery.
This government effort supplements various other programmes to promote safe delivery services and is in line with the Millennium Development Goal on maternal health. To encourage women to deliver children in a health facility, the government provides Rs 1,500 in the mountains, Rs 1,000 in the hills and Rs 500 in the Tarai region as travel costs for each delivery, apart from free delivery care.
According to the 2011 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), 58 percent of women went for consultations during pregnancy. Though antenatal care being received by women is much higher than in the past, only 36 percent of babies were delivered by doctors, nurses or midwives.
It is estimated that 281 women die out of a 100,000 live births, down from 539 per 100,000 births a decade ago.
Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/08/08/national/free-blood-for-expecting-moms/358434/
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