M A I N   N E W S

No medicine for ‘Mother Safety’ month
By Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Feb 10 — Despite the “National Mother Safety month” being observed to take care of pregnant women, mothers in the state are not getting a major material benefit due to them under the scheme, provision of iron folic acid tablets.

Punjab has not been supplied the tablets since December, 1999. Hence, these are not available at most primary health centers, civil dispensaries and civil hospitals. The provision of the tablets along with administering of tetanus injections, conducting blood and urine tests, holding camps for pregnant women and imparting dietary information are mandatory under the scheme. All medical institutions are to submit compliance reports in this regard following the end of the month.

The provision of iron folic acid tablets and tetanus injections are two of the major benefits. No information has been forthcoming from official sources about any plan to supply the tablets to the expectant mothers.

Health Department sources said the provision of the tablets was the cornerstone of the scheme. It had been revealed that rural women usually did not have a balanced diet during pregnancy and required iron and folic supplements. They said this section of society also did not buy the tablets, which were expensive from the market as they were not aware of their importance.

A survey in Patiala district revealed that most civil dispensaries and hospitals are without the tablets. At some places auxiliary nurses get supplies of the tablets under a World bank project. At Mata Kaushalya Hospital in the city, where a large number of pregnant women come daily for medical check up, there are no iron folic acid tablets to be given to them. Hospital sources disclosed that the tablets were out of stock since July this year. Similar is the case at the Handley civil dispensary where the tablets are out of stock since the last three months.

At a few dispensaries in the city the tablets are available due to the presence of auxiliary nurses on their rolls who get these under the World Bank scheme. At such places the tablets are being doled out to the needy.

Patiala Civil Surgeon Rameshwar Chander, when contacted, said though some auxiliary nurses had some tablets on stock for distribution this month, mass distribution of the tablets could not take place among the needy as there was no supply of tablets from the Centre. He said his office was, however, activating Istri Sabhas and other non-governmental agencies to spread awareness on the precautions needed to be taken by pregnant women.

However, if reports are to be believed the entire drive has been reduced to a propaganda exercise with practically no camps being held to make sure the benefits reach the downtrodden and the poor. Sources said though camps were to be organised in the slum areas in the city and at other places during this month, only a token exercise had been undertaken at a few places.

Meanwhile, sources in the office of the Directorate of Family Welfare disclosed that a supply of iron folic tablets had been received in December, 1999, and before that in February, 1999, and that no special supply had been arranged for the “Mother Safety” month.