199864
Mumbai:
Among stories of rising stock markets fortunes and scams that hit the headlines, there is another Mumbai where poor mothers are dying at an alarming rate every year as per the municipal corporation's own figures.
Over 200 women died at childbirth in Mumbai in 2010 beating last year's survey figures, the primary reason being lack of access to healthcare.
For Zubeida Shaikh, who lives in a slum in the upcoming suburb of Govandi, a short train ride from posh South Mumbai, childbirth evokes terrifying memories.
"There was only one nurse at the nearby civic maternity clinic, so I went to Rajawadi hospital. By then, the water bag broke and sonography showed the baby had died. They didn't even let me lie down till I paid them Rs1200," she recounts.
This slum reported the highest number of maternal deaths in Mumbai in 2010 and it's not hard to see why.
About six lakh people live in this slum but there's not one civic dispensary or hospital close by. There's a health post but it does not address maternal health needs.
About 5-6 kilometres away, there are two big hospitals but patients are told to buy medicines and supplements that should be given free.
"Even if we motivate women to go to doctors, they are treated badly at hospitals. The doctor or nurse will say something like 'you have no sense, you just keep having children.' So women never go back," says Varsha Parsude, NGO Apnalaya.
However, things are relatively better at another slum a short distance away. Maternal deaths have come down by 50% at a nearby slum in Ghatkopar. This comes four years after a civic-NGO partnership was launched. The staff at the civic health post has been trained in maternal care. So have community women.
"They need to be aware of where to go and when. And the quality of care offered in both private and public hospitals has to improve if maternal mortality rate is going to come down," says Dr. Wasundhara Joshi, Executive Director, Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action.
Despite the fact that precautionary measures have been adopted at certain places, maternal mortality continues to be a long-standing problem, one that civic authorities have been unable to address, although Mumbai's annual budget is higher than many states.
Over 200 women died at childbirth in Mumbai in 2010 beating last year's survey figures, the primary reason being lack of access to healthcare.
For Zubeida Shaikh, who lives in a slum in the upcoming suburb of Govandi, a short train ride from posh South Mumbai, childbirth evokes terrifying memories.
"There was only one nurse at the nearby civic maternity clinic, so I went to Rajawadi hospital. By then, the water bag broke and sonography showed the baby had died. They didn't even let me lie down till I paid them Rs1200," she recounts.
This slum reported the highest number of maternal deaths in Mumbai in 2010 and it's not hard to see why.
About six lakh people live in this slum but there's not one civic dispensary or hospital close by. There's a health post but it does not address maternal health needs.
About 5-6 kilometres away, there are two big hospitals but patients are told to buy medicines and supplements that should be given free.
"Even if we motivate women to go to doctors, they are treated badly at hospitals. The doctor or nurse will say something like 'you have no sense, you just keep having children.' So women never go back," says Varsha Parsude, NGO Apnalaya.
However, things are relatively better at another slum a short distance away. Maternal deaths have come down by 50% at a nearby slum in Ghatkopar. This comes four years after a civic-NGO partnership was launched. The staff at the civic health post has been trained in maternal care. So have community women.
"They need to be aware of where to go and when. And the quality of care offered in both private and public hospitals has to improve if maternal mortality rate is going to come down," says Dr. Wasundhara Joshi, Executive Director, Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action.
Despite the fact that precautionary measures have been adopted at certain places, maternal mortality continues to be a long-standing problem, one that civic authorities have been unable to address, although Mumbai's annual budget is higher than many states.
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