23 dedicated centres for pregnancy care to start in Pune

These facilities will focus on providing free, comprehensive holistic health care for conception, expecting mothers and postpartum care to new mothers and newborns upto six months after delivery

The state health department will upgrade 471 facilities under the Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) scheme which aims to end preventable maternal and neonatal deaths. Kamla Nehru Hospital in Pune is the only centre in the district selected under the scheme and will provide Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care. All these centres will focus on holistic conception, pregnancy and postpartum care to mother and child up to six months post delivery.

In Pune district as many as 23 centres will be part of the initiative. PMC-run Kamla Nehru Hospital will be the only centre that will provide Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care. (REPRESENTATIVE PIC)

Out of the 471 centres, 255 centres will focus on basic facilities, 157 will be dedicated to BEmONC (Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care) and 59 to CEmONC (Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care).

These facilities will focus on providing free, comprehensive holistic health care for conception, expecting mothers and postpartum care to new mothers and newborns upto six months after delivery.

In Pune district as many as 23 centres will be part of the initiative. PMC-run Kamla Nehru Hospital will be the only centre that will provide Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care. As per the officials, 6 Community Health Centres (CHC) in Mulshi, Khed, Shirur, Daund, Purandar amongst others will have Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care. While 16 Primary Health centres in Haveli, Junnar, Khed, Shirur, Phursungi, Purandar, Maval will have basic facilities.

Dr Bhagwan Pawar, PMC health officer, said, “Currently we provide prenatal care to expecting mothers and C-section deliveries, emergency and planned deliveries are done at the hospital. Complex deliveries are referred due to lack of ICU setup and blood bank support. The staff at the hospital is already trained and we are upgrading medical equipment. We are also starting a high dependency unit at the hospital. We have already received the budget for upgrading the facility.”

As per the order, all facilities must complete national quality assurance standards (NQAS) certification within six months after receiving the instructions from the central government.