A new service in the basket, Umri Panchyat, Madhya Pradesh
Twenty-seven-year-old Kalam Bai w/o (wife of Pratap Singh Bhilala) and 25-year-old Sushma Bai (wife of Sonu Bhilala) are residents of village Hathikhundan of Guna district in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
Kalma Bai had already given birth to four times, all of which were non-institutional deliveries. However, one of them, a male child, died a couple of days after his birth. She was now pregnant with her fifth child. On the other hand, Sushma Bai, who was already a mother of a daughter, a non-institutional delivery again, was pregnant too..
Both the women belonged to the same household in which a misconception prevailed about institutional births – that deliveries in hospitals are not safe or beneficial enough. The head of the family had never allowed any of the woman to go to the hospital for a child delivery and all the deliveries were done at home until Soochna Seva entered the scene.
In an effort to demystify the misconceptions related to institutional births, they met the family and spoke to them about the importance of delivering the baby in an appropriate setting, where lifesaving equipment and hygienic conditions can also help reduce the risk of complications that may cause death or illness to mother and child. They were informed about the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) which is a safe motherhood intervention under the National Rural Health Mission (NHM) launched by the government of India. The scheme has been implemented with the objective of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among poor pregnant women.
After the Soochna Seva team concluded their discussion, the pregnant women of the house pleaded the family members to take them to the hospitals this time for delivery. Courtesy the awareness instilled in the household by Soochna Seva, the family even agreed to the women’s demand.
As the time of the delivery approached, the women were taken to the hospital through Janani Express and they safely gave births to healthy children through an institutional delivery. On October 16, 2015, Kalma Bai delivered a hale and hearty baby boy weighing 2.900 gm and on September 21,2015, Sushma Bai gave birth to a healthy girl child weighing 2.800 gm.
The team contacted the women after the delivery and to their great satisfaction the family narrated the immense benefits that they had received from the hospital. Moreover, as the women were entitled to financial assistance under JSY but didn’t have a bank account, the Soochna Sevaks helped them open their accounts in which the women received the financial assistance.
Kalam Bai and Sushma Bai are now committed to sharing their experience with other women of their village.
Related posts
