Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Saturday called upon the country to focus on reducing maternal mortality rate (MMR).
Addressing the staff of Women’s Center here, he said that India ranked 142 out of 176 countries in tackling maternal mortality.
Terming preventable maternal mortality as a failure in providing human rights to women and recognising their right to life, he said that India should target a 75 per cent reduction in MMR within the next few years.
It was lower wherever literacy rate is high with Kerala and a few north-eastern states being cases in the point.
While there were multiple reasons behind MMR ranging from lack of adequate roads to high costs of healthcare, he said that Government must address all of them.
Replying to Mr. Kalam’s query on increasing instances of caesarean section operations for child deliveries, Mirudhubashini Govindarajan, clinical director of the Women’s Center, said that many women were now opting to start a family late in life, mostly due to career reasons. Further, there were other reasons such as overweight, with the Center coming across pregnant ladies weighing over 100 kg almost once a week.
Many women lead a sedentary lifestyle and India, especially the southern States, had among the highest incidences of diabetes globally, she said.
Dr. Mirudhubashini said that child birth, which was perhaps the most important event in a woman’s life, was not covered by any medical insurance scheme. She also called for reviving the system of having midwives for deliveries.
B.K. Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, spoke.
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