To curb the infant mortality rate and reduce the percentage of malnutrition, the Maharashtra government took a decision for the newborns. The state government will distribute ‘Chief Minister baby care kits’ to the infants born in government hospitals and Public Health Centers (PHC’s) in the state. The intention behind the somewhat less publicised scheme is good but lets see how it travels across the state.
The Department of women and child development has claimed that out of the 20 lakh pregnant women (8 lakh in urban areas & 12 lakh in rural areas) who give birth annually, only 50 percent of such women get their names registered in the state health care centres and government hospitals. Moreover, around 4 lakh are first time mothers. As per this new Baby Care Kit Scheme, mothers of new born babies would be provided with baby care kits to encourage them to give birth to their child in hospitals. This would ensure that the children gets mother’s milk and proper nourishment. Such a scheme is operating in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and it has shown good results in those states. This scheme in Maharashtra will ensure that the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is reduced in the state. The Department has made the provision of Rs. 80 crore to provide the kits under this Scheme.
The kits will be distributed to all the women by the state government after their first delivery. The Chief Minister baby care kits will be distributed to pregnant and lactating mothers. The scheme is being implemented through the integrated child development services project and health department. The prime motive is to decrease the infant mortality rate. According to senior officials of the department many times, the newborn babies are placed on the floor in the tribal areas. Due to this the babies fell ill for want of warmth. So in order to take care of these infants, the Anganwadi Sevikas and other health employees are giving training to the mothers. At the same time providing warmth to the Infant and keeping them neat and tidy is also necessary and inevitable. So it was decided to give some items required to the mother and the newborn babies.
Considering all the requirements the Baby Care Kit is designed. This comprises baby clothes, a Small bed, towel, plastic diaper (Nappies), body massage oil, thermometer, mosquito net, woollen blanket, shampoo, nail cutter, hand gloves, socks, body wash liquid, hand sanitizer, woollen clothes for mother and small toys. The items in the kit which would cost around Rs. 2,000 in the market. For this scheme, the government has sanctioned Rs 20 crore in the first phase and the provision will be increased in the near future. This scheme will be implemented in the entire state for all the sections of the society. These kits are to be distributed free of charge for all the mothers who will be giving birth to the babies in government Primary Health Centre and government hospitals.
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