In Meghalaya, 877 newborn babies and 61 mothers died due to refusal of women to deliver in hospitals for fear of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pregnant women refused to be admitted to the hospitals for fear of spreading the infection. The Meghalaya government has given this information to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The Meghalaya government in its action taken report submitted to the NHRC has given the reason for this. The NHRC recently recorded a high number of neonatal and maternal deaths in Meghalaya. The report said that an investigation into the causes of death of newborns has revealed that these deaths were due to lack of medical facilities and lack of care, as pregnant women themselves were admitted to health centers for fear of corona virus infection. He had refused and had also refused to conduct a COVID-19 test.
Pregnant women staying away from health centers
According to the report, at the time when these deaths occurred, it was necessary to keep COVID-19 and non-Covid-19 patients separately. Therefore, patients were being screened for COVID-19 to prevent the spread of the disease. The pregnant women may have stayed away from the health centres, but ANMs and ASHA staff were regularly visiting their homes to monitor their health. Along with this, she was appealing to him to come to the hospital for delivery. The state government said it had launched a ‘rescue operation’ taking cognizance of the matter.
The report said that high-risk pregnant women were tracked and none of them were allowed to deliver at home. Also they were asked to get admitted in the hospitals at least two weeks before the due date. The state administration said that apart from the pandemic, the number of maternal and child deaths also increased due to unresolved socio-economic reasons.