Woman & child hospitals in all districts

KOCHI: In a bid to make its health indices the best in South Asia by the end of the 12th Five-Year-Plan, the state Health Department has set aside big money for maternal and child welfare. Cent per cent immunisation, modernisation of maternal wards and setting up of separate woman and child hospitals across the state are some of the projects that have got the nod.By the end of the 12th plan period ending in 2017, the state Health Department plans to have 200-bedded woman and child hospitals in each of the 14 districts at a cost of Rs 105 crore.The first phase of the project will receive an amount of `35 crore for the year 2012-13. Three woman and child hospitals will be set up in Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam and Kozhikode.“The paperwork has already started and we hope to complete the work of the hospitals by the end of the year. Some of the districts already have separate woman and child hospitals. In all other districts, we hope to set up the hospitals by the end of the plan period. There will be a special focus on maternal and child welfare during this plan period. With these we are planning to make our health indices the best in South East Asia,” said the Additional Director of Health Service (Planning), Dr Prabha Chandran Nair.Also, the state government has plans to modernise the maternity wards of as many as 80 taluk hospitals in the state during the plan period. This will be done at an estimated cost of Rs 80 crores.In the first phase beginning this year, the state government has allotted a sum of Rs 20 crore for 20 taluk hospitals in the state.After the revamp, each of the hospitals will have a modern pediatric Intensive Care Unit, operation theatre and a well-equipped labour room.“By the end of the 12th plan period we hope to bring down the maternal mortality rate by 50 per cent, (the number of maternal deaths per 1,00,000 live births) to about 40 from the current 81 and to increase the immunisation from the current 80-85 per cent to 100 per cent,” said Dr P K Jameela, Director of Kerala Health Services.