Dehradun: Uttarakhand reported 601 unsafe deliveries in 2021-2022, marking a jump from the previous years, an RTI reply revealed. A total of 465 unsafe deliveries were recorded in the state in the year 2019-20, which rose from 559 in 2020-21 to 601 in 2021-22, data shared under the Right to Information (RTI) Act showed. The query was posed by a Dehradun-based organisation of young researchers called Community Action through Motivation Programme (CAMP), which held shortage of gynaecologists in Community Health Centres (CHCs) of the hilly state as the main reason behind such incidents.
The data showed that the average number of unsafe deliveries per month in the state is also on the rise from 42 per month in 2019-20 to 60 per month in 2021-22," Shivam, coordinator of the research group, said. If seen district-wise, the number of such childbirths were highest in Dehradun with 244 unsafe deliveries in 2021-22, he said. The number of deliveries in 108 state-run emergency ambulances was also the highest in 2021-22, the RTI stated.
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Shivam pointed out that state has 167 sanctioned posts of gynaecologists in all categories of hospitals. However, of these, 74 are vacant. In addition to these, 27 more posts of gynaecologists, sanctioned for Community Health Centres are lying vacant, the CAMP coordinator said. As per the World Health Organisation parameters, institutional births or births in hospitals are the safest as non-institutional deliveries carry a risk to the lives of the mother and the newborn baby, he mentioned.
PTI
