Maharashtra Government launches special scheme to curb infant deaths

The state government of Maharashtra on January 29, 2019 launched a special scheme to curb infant deaths. The government started distributing baby-care kits to the children born in primary health centres and government hospitals, as part of its efforts to reduce the infant mortality rate.

Speaking after the launch, the state’s Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde said that the scheme is only applicable for the first child and it is expected to benefit around four lakh women across the state.

Key Highlights

• Each of the baby-care kits contains a blanket, a small mattress, a towel, a thermometer, baby oil, shampoo, toys, nail-cutter, gloves and socks among other things. The total cost of each kit is around Rs 2,000.

• The baby-care kits will be given to the women, who are admitted to a state-run hospital, after their first delivery.

• The government has allocated Rs 20 crore for the scheme but would increase the amount if required.

Background

The government-run hospitals and primary health centres in the state report around 10 lakh deliveries every year, of which around four lakh are first-time deliveries (first-time mothers).

All these four lakh women will be eligible for the baby-care kits.

A similar scheme was introduced earlier in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu and it has shown some success in terms of bringing down the infant mortality.