SHILLONG
The opposition All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), on September 21, criticised the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government for the state’s deplorable healthcare system.
The AITC said in a statement that the state’s institutional deliveries are at a very low level of 51.4 per cent. Lack of access to medical facilties caused the deaths of 61 pregnant women and up to 877 newborns between April 2020 and July 2020.
According to the reports from the Department of Family & Health Welfare, Meghalaya, most of the women died because they were not admitted to hospitals or health centres for institutional delivery.
According to data by the National Family Health Survey Report, Government of India (2019-20), 54 per cent of women in Meghalaya have anemia, including 24 per cent with mild anemia, 28 per cent with moderate anemia, and two per cent with severe anemia.
Anemia is particularly high among rural women aged between 40 and 49, and women not belonging to a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or other backward class, anemia ranges from 45 to 62 per cent for all background characteristics of women.
The party said the infant mortality rate for Meghalaya is 34 deaths per 1000 live births compared to the world with 29; maternal mortality rate is alarmingly high with Meghalaya registering 197 deaths per 1,00,000 deliveries.
In the just-concluded autumn session of the assembly, TMC MLA George B Lyngdoh highlighted that neonatal mortality in the state has increased by 20.6 per i000 births in rural parts, calling it alarming. In total, Meghalaya has the highest mortality rate at 29 per 1000 live births among the smaller states
Meghalaya also faces a 65 per cent shortage in medical specialists and the citizens of the state continue to suffer due to lack of medical attention.
The shortfall of 109 specialists out of 112 in rural Community Health Centres (CHC) including Bajengdoba CHC in North Garo Hills, is yet another problem that continues to rack the rural areas of the state.
A video tweeted by TMC Meghalaya features a woman who had to move to a private hospital in Mairang due to lack of hospitals yet the medication prescribed to her was ineffective. They had to move her to NEIGRIHMS making things even more difficult for her and her family.
The party said Meghalaya is now tagged as the cancer capital of the country, where one in every five males and one in every nine females are affected by the disease. Yet the government is nonchalant about the problems of Meghalayans.