Child birth costliest in high MMR-prone Odisha

Though Odisha is saddled with high maternal mortality rate, yet giving birth to child in a public hospital in the State is the costliest in the country, except the north-eastern States and Goa. This is so because average total medical expenditure borne per childbirth by a delivering mother during stay at even rural Government hospitals in Odisha is one-and-a -half times over and above the national average. However, average medical expenses per child birth during stay at hospitals in urban Government hospitals is 4th costliest in the country.

Such startling revelations about maternal expenses in Odisha has come to fore in a recent National Sample Survey (NSS) report released on June 27, 2015. The NSSO has conducted this survey from July 2013 to June 2014. This report assumes significance when the Government has recently launched ‘Niramaya’ yojana with much fanfare. 

According to the NSS report, average total medical expenditure a delivering woman has incurred during stay at rural Government hospitals in Odisha is Rs 2,598. In contrast, the national average is Rs 1,589 and the amount in Chhattisgarh is Rs 1,551 and Delhi is Rs 1,331. In urban Odisha, the rate chart has been estimated at Rs 3,008 against the national average of Rs 2,114. However, the expenses in urban areas of Chhattisgarh, Punjab and West Bengal are higher than Odisha. Another significant disclosure is child birth expenses at private hospitals in rural and urban Odisha is almost 7-times higher.

Though, it is much below the national average.  Result: Child births reported at Government hospitals in Odisha have been around 80 per cent, delivery at home around 10 per cent and at private hospitals around 8 per cent in rural areas. In urban areas, the proportion is 70 per cent in public hospitals, 26 per cent in private and around 3 per cent deliveries were reported at homes, finds the report.

Significantly, NSS report has ranked Odisha as the 6th State in the country with most proportion of ailing persons. The proportion of ailing persons in rural Odisha is around 10 per cent and in urban areas also it is around 10 per cent (9.7).  The top – 5 are not from BIMARU (Bihar, MP and UP) category but are Kerala, WB, AP, Punjab and TN. The worrying fact for Odisha is cases where health expenses are partly or fully reimbursed in rural areas are below 1 per cent and around 6 per cent in urban areas. On the contrary, the proportion in Chhattisgarh is around 2 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively.  The report finds that proportion of ailing persons is as high as 24 per cent in Odisha in the age-group of over 60 years. It is also seen that around 10 per cent in the age-group of 0-14 yrs in rural areas and around 11 per cent in urban areas reported some ailment, which is 5th highest nationally.

The average medical expenditure incurred by each in-patient during last one-year in rural Odisha is higher at Rs 10, 240 and around Rs 19,750 in urban areas in State but is below the national averages of Rs 14,935 and Rs 24,436 respectively.