‘Child births in unregistered hosps lead to poor institutional delivery ratio in U.P’

This is for the first time that the health department has linked the issue of unregistered hospitals with poor institutional delivery ratio.

LUCKNOW The family welfare department of Uttar Pradesh has demanded that the Clinical Establishment Act be implemented strictly as “unregistered hospitals/nursing homes are impacting the institutional delivery graph in the state”. This is for the first time that the health department has linked the issue of unregistered hospitals with poor institutional delivery ratio.

At present, the rate of institutional delivery in Uttar Pradesh is 85%. (HT Photo)

“Our investigation has revealed this link between unregistered hospitals and institutional delivery rate in the state,” said Dr Renu Srivastava Verma, director general family welfare. She explained, “Many pregnant women, for whom we have record of ante-natal check up till seventh month go missing when their time for delivery comes. There are two key reasons behind it. First, they get the delivery done at some specific hospital where other women from their family delivered a child. A large number of these hospitals, particularly in rural pockets, are not registered with health department and hence, they do not register the birth with us,” said Dr Srivastava.

Secondly, she added, “A lot of child births take place at home. We are working to reduce this number too.” At present, the rate of institutional delivery in Uttar Pradesh is 85% and the family welfare department officials have said that if births at unregistered hospitals are registered, the rate of institutional delivery will go up.

To this end, the family welfare directorate has written to the director general of medical health to implement Clinical Establishment Act across hospitals and clinics in the state. The Clinical Establishment Act demands registration of each health facility as the first step and then states the minimum standards to be maintained by the hospitals according to their bed strength.

Meanwhile, the director general of medical health, Dr Lilly Singh, has asked all the chief medical officers to form a committee and keep a check on unregistered hospitals. The national family health survey-5 (NFHS-5) report says that the ratio of institutional delivery in Uttar Pradesh is 83.4% and the state aims to take it to 90% in the next few years. If urban and rural areas are rated separately, then the rate of institutional delivery will be 85.5% in urban areas and 82.9% in rural areas.

In comparison, the rise in institutional delivery was 13.4% in urban areas and 16.1% in rural areas as per NFHS-4, which was compiled in 2015.