BENGALURU: The Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY), which offers various incentives to women from below poverty line families to undergo delivery in government hospitals, has few takers in the city, though the scheme was launched more than a decade ago.
Only 4.3 per cent of mothers received financial assistance under JSY for births in Bengaluru hospitals, according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) released in December 2017.
“Lack of knowledge about the existing schemes is one of the main reasons. There are a lot of immigrants in the city, but most pregnant women go back to their home towns because they think hospitals in the city are costlier,” said Dr Purnima, from a reputed hospital in the city.
She also said that it is important to create awareness about these schemes or at least bring it to their notice so that they come to the city hospitals.
JSY was launched in April 2005 by modifying the National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS) that uniformly offered Rs 500 per birth. With the launch of JSY, the financial assistance was graded and categorized on the basis of states as well as beneficiaries to pregnant women who belong to the below poverty line.
State Additional Chief Secretary for Health and Family Welfare Services Ajay Seth said, “In Bengaluru institutional deliveries are taking place, so the government is focusing on more in the north-east Karnataka where such deliveries are low.”
The scheme came into effect in August 1995 as one of the components of the National Social Assistance Programme, which was transferred from the Ministry of Rural Development to the Department of Health & Family Welfare during the year 2001-02.
