'Need to implement maternal health policies properly'

Every five minutes a pregnant woman dies in India, taking the number to 200 per day.

“These can be prevented with proper medical care and with the help of efficient doctors,” said PC Mahapatra, president of Federation of Obstetric & Gynaecological Societies of India.

The current maternal health policies of the government were not being implemented properly, Mahapatra said.

“The government should fix a date for check up once in every two months just like its polio campaign. We had advised the government to accredit maternity hospitals, which are voluntarily doing Cesareans at Rs 5,000 and normal pregnancies at Rs 2,000. The Gujarat government has implemented the policy, where the government is charging Rs 2,800 for normal delivery.”

Mahapatra was speaking at the 54th All India Congress of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AICOG) 2011 here.

S Shantha Kumari, organising secretary, said, “The current pregnancy death risk is one in every 40 cases. The main focus is to see junior practitioners and doctors reach remote areas.”

The five-day event, which concluded today, was hosted after a gap of 12 years and saw 9,000 delegates from across the globe.