Chennai: India is unlikely to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 because of high maternal mortality due to postpartum haemorrhage (PPH), World Health Organization (WHO) said.
WHO estimates that 25.7 per cent of the 5,29,000 maternal deaths occurring every year take place in India. One Indian woman dies every five minutes from complications during pregnancy and childbirth. PPH is the most commonly reported complication. MDG 5 is focused on reducing maternal mortality and achieving universal access to reproductive health care.
“MDG 5 requires that MMR be below 100, which Tamil Nadu has successfully achieved,” said Dr Yashodhara Pradeep, Chairperson, Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI). Also, the state has a large number of blood banks. According to WHO, blood is in chronic short supply in India.
“Government hospitals in the state have sufficient blood stored. It is essential that it is kept available, especially when women with rare blood groups are brought to the hospital,” said Dr Sampath Kumari, chairperson, FOGSI. “There are other factors responsible for high MMRs in India - not every state has a large number of blood banks and the awareness programmes are also pretty poor. Another important factor is the lack of contraception, which if used, could bring down MMR by 33 per cent,” said Dr Yashodhara.
