Almost six months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on doctors to give 12 days a year to treat poor pregnant women free of charge, the Union Health Ministry on Friday joined hands with private medical practitioners to provide free and comprehensive antenatal care on the 9th day of every month.
Under the national programme — Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), which was launched by Health Minister JP Nadda here pregnant women will be provided special antenatal check-up in their second or third trimester at Government health care facilities.
It will cover about three crore pregnant women across the country, said Nadda here after unveiling the scheme.
Around 184 priority districts have been identified for greater focus on antenatal care.
The private medical practitioners can provide their services at a Government hospital located close to them.
Keeping in view the objective, a web portal as well as a mobile application were inaugurated which will facilitate engagement with private sector doctors and encourage them to volunteer for the campaign.
Obstetricians, radiologists and physicians who wish to volunteer on the 9th of every month can register themselves on the website or the mobile application. Thereafter, the district chief medical officer, to which the volunteer belongs to, will get in touch with the doctor concerned.
“Our pace of reduction of infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate is better than the rest of the world. We need to do more and provide better access to medical care in remote areas,” Nadda said.
Director General of Health Services Jagdish Prasad appealed to the doctors to spare a day every month for the cause.
So far, 1500 doctors from Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) have pledged their support to the programme, which is also backed by the Indian Medical Association.
Dr Gagan Gupta, Senior Health Specialist, UNICEF said, “ In India, we have 167 maternal deaths per 1,00,000 births. 44,000 women die annually or 120 die per day because of pregnancy-related health issues. These are preventable deaths.”