Former Minister and senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik has urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to take strict measures in preventing neonatal deaths in the State. He has expressed deep anguish over the virtual simultaneous deaths of nine newborn babies at the VSS Medical College Hospital, Burla.
“As a former Health Minister of the State, I cannot avoid being extremely concerned about the state of health infrastructure in Odisha,” said Patnaik in a Press release.
He said Odisha has a serious issue with neonatal deaths. There is a direct correlation between poverty and high incidence of neonatal death, but unfortunately, the State does not seem to have benefitted enough from the increased allocation of funds by the Central Government with specific focus on neonatal health.
Under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), employees are being assigned the responsibility to create awareness in the community regarding maternal and child health issues. They are further expected to mobilised the community and help them access healthcare services.
“A safe motherhood intervention named “Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY)” has been implemented under the NRHM to increase the institutional delivery rates and provide skilled care at birth for the newborn. As is evident, the system is malfunctioning,” Patnaik rued.
“What has happened at Burla is not an isolated incident but is happening regularly in the State’s hospital system though this time nine deaths in 24 hours have drawn national attention. I request you to carry out a comprehensive review and bring about systemic improvement. The State Government should not be in a state of continuous denial. This would help the State more than populist vote-catching instruments like distribution of blankets, cycles, mobile phones, etc.,” Patnaik said.