BNMC to make institutional deliveries compulsory

The Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) has decided not to allow deliveries of pregnant women at home due to lack of adequate health facilities, an official said on Sunday.

It has been observed that many a times deliveries at home in slums and rural areas lead to death of the pregnant woman and the child, the civic body's health officer Dr K R Kharat said.

Around 12,000 to 13,000 deliveries are recorded in Bhiwandi town in a year, of which 3,000 to 4,000 are noninstitutional, he said.

These deliveries at home are carried out by midwives, and women and children do not get proper health facilities, he noted. Hence, Bhiwandi Nizammpur Municipal Commissioner Dr Pankaj Ashiya has decided to compulsorily implement the 'Arogya Sakhi' programme and make it mandatory for deliveries to be conducted at government or civic hospitals, he said.