States asked to carry out 100% maternal death audit

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) The Union Health Ministry on Monday urged all the states to carry out 100 per cent maternal death audit for understanding cause, and monitor new born and deaths of sick newborns separately.

Chairing a national review meeting of National Health Mission here, Health Secretary C.K. Mishra said that the states must focus on strengthening routine immunisation.

"There is gap in initiation of early breast feeding which needs to be actively bridged through interventions/programmes such Mothers' Absolute Affection (MAA). Complementary feeding and its quality are also issues that States need to address," he said.

The occasion was the first review meeting after the Gorakhpur tragedy where over 63 children had died at Baba Raghav Das Medical College, allegedly due to lack of oxygen supply.

Emphasising upon the need for innovative approaches to make the facilities at the peripheries work to avoid crowding of tertiary care facilities which impacts the quality of healthcare, Mishra exhorted the states to start measuring service delivery and monitoring performance based on a set of deliverables.

"States should co-opt the private sector as elimination of TB is not possible otherwise. States/UTs actively participated by highlighting problem areas, challenges and providing suggestions thereby serving not only as a forum for inputs for the Health Ministry but also for cross learning across States/UTs," he said at the meeting.

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