Krishnagiri: In all 5,187 newborn babies have died in eight years in Dharmapuri, said a release by state health minister C. Vijaya Baskar. The release, issued on Sunday by the Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts information and public relations department, followed news reports of the successive death of babies in the Dharmapuri government medical college and hospital.
According to the release, 6.8 lakh babies are born annually in 43 government hospitals under the control of 19 medical colleges, one multi-specialty hospital, 30 district-level hospitals, 240 taluk hospitals, 1,751 primary health centres, 8,706 sub-centers and 134 urban-level, primary health centres across the state. This helped the state reduce infant mortality rate to just 21 per 1,000 live births when the country's average was 40 per 1,000 live births.
Other factors that helped are the state's millennium development goals and aid to pregnant mothers that was increased to Rs 12,000 under the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy maternity benefit scheme.
In Dharmapuri, between 2006 and 2010, the number of newborn deaths was 3,353 and this declined to 1,834 after 2011. Dharmapuri recorded 18.9 per cent death of newborn babies for every 1,000 births. This is 11.1 per cent lower compared to 30 per cent before 2011 and 21 per cent recorded across the state. Despite efforts, newborn deaths continue because of other unavoidable factors like pre-term births, congenital anomaly, respiratory distress, convulsions, low-birth weight and other associated complications.
In order to save babies, the state has formed 64 neo-natal intensive care units and 114 newborn stabilisation units. In all, 16,106 babies were saved from death so far in three years.
Meanwhile, one more newborn died on Saturday night, bringing the infant death toll to 12 in 8 days in the Dharmapuri government hospital.
On November 16, V. Sathya, 21, of T. Andiyur, near Harur of Dharmapuri district, died after giving birth to a male baby in the Theerthamalai primary health centre. The infant was referred to the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) in the Dharmapuri government medical college and hospital. But the newborn died on Saturday night due to acute respiratory problem, increasing the infant toll to 12 since November 14 in Dharmapuri. On November 14, five newborn babies, four of them girls, died in the NICU of Dharmapuri. Hospital sources said three of the infants were pre-term babies and two others were afflicted with birth asphyxia (acute respiratory problem). Seven more babies died later, raising the infant death toll to 12 till Sunday.
