Altogether 87 infants died in different hospitals in Malda district alone in the month of January. There are incidents of infant death in some other districts too. The exasperated chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who is also holding the health portfolio, might get some solace from a report sent by the union health ministry on Friday.
The report highlighted the fact that West Bengal’s infant mortality rate is much lower than that of most of the states. According to statistics collated by the union health ministry, as against the national average of infant mortality of 47, West Bengal has performed much better with an infant mortality rate of 31. The infant mortality rate (IMR) is expressed as number of deaths of infants (below one year) per 1000 live births.
While Kerala has the best record of having minimum infant death with an IMR of 13, and another southern state Tamil Nadu having an IMR of 24, of the total 29 states and six union territories, 19 have higher IMR than West Bengal.
The worst performer is Madhya Pradesh with an IMR of 62. Both Odisha and Uttar Pradesh have an IMR of 61.
Even Assam (IMR 58), Rajasthan (IMR 55), Meghalay (55), Chhattisgarh (51) and Bihar (48) fared higher than the national average. Delhi, where the capital of India is located has performed slightly better than West Bengal. Delhi has scored 30 as against West Bengal’s 31.
The report was sent on Friday by Sudip Banerjee, the minister of state, health and family welfare, Government of India, to the chief minister of West Bengal.
While the findings of the central report is encouraging for the state, what is worrying for the state administration is that most of the infants who died in hospitals in recent times were born at homes. Also, it was found that most of the babies were underweight.
The state government has just conducted a study to assess the capabilities of the district and rural hospitals in the state.