Safe pregnancy has now become social movement : Nadda

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda on January 19, 2018, expressed his heartfelt gratitude to PM Narendra Modi for his un-daunting support to the Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) as the programme crossed one crore mark in antenatal check-ups.

Nadda stated that PM Modi had envisioned that 9th of every month, symbolizing the 9 months of pregnancy, should be dedicated to pregnant women. The PMSMA programme was launched in 2016 to fulfil his vision and ensure comprehensive and quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women across India.  “More than one crore antenatal check-ups have been conducted under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA), which has provided quality antenatal checkups to pregnant women on the 9th of every month. Now safe pregnancy has become a social movement in our country,” Nadda added, according to a PIB release.

Nadda said that that the programme has been successful in reaching out to the difficult and remote areas of India since out of the 1 crore checkups across the country, more than 25 lakh check-ups were conducted in high priority districts identified by the Health Ministry for focussed attention. “While all States/ UTs have made significant efforts to reach out to pregnant women, Maharashtra has reported the largest number of check-ups among the Non-Empowered Action Group (EAG) States and Rajasthan has reported the largest number of check-ups among the Empowered Action Group States.  All pregnant women visiting the PMSMA sites are examined by an obstetrician/ physician and appropriately investigated,” Nadda elaborated.

Nadda also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to all doctors from the public and private sectors for responding to the call of the Prime Minister and making this remarkable milestone possible.

It may be mentioned here that in the July 31, 2016 episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the Prime Minister had urged private sector doctors to dedicate 12 days in a year to this programme and provide voluntary services under PMSMA on the 9th of every month.  There are more than 12,800 government health facilities across States/ UTs where PMSMA sessions are conducted on the 9th of every month. More than 4,800 private sector doctors have pledged to provide voluntary service under PMSMA. More than 385 private sector volunteers have provided services in the high priority districts such as Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh.

There are several instances where private sector doctors have gone beyond the expectations to serve in remote areas. For example, Dr Pooja Upadhyay, a well-known gynaecologist of Raipur turned down the travel support offered by the government and instead travelled all the way to Narayanpur, a remote left-wing affected district at her own expense to provide services under PMSMA.