Kathmandu, January 21:

The government, as per its announcement 11 months ago, will release funds meant for the safe delivery of pregnant women soon, an official at the Ministry of Health and Population told this daily today.

The government had announced that it will provide funds to the ‘needy’ pregnant women who hail from 25 districts having low HDI (Human Development Index) and visit hospitals or health posts for deliveries.

The government will release funds meant for the safe delivery programme pretty soon, Dr Baburam Marasini, senior medical officer at the Ministry of Health and Population, told this daily. “The process will be finalised by next week,” said Dr Marasini.

For the effective implementation of the programme, the government has allotted a budget of Rs 15 crore. Earlier, the programme was meant to be conducted by utilisation of leftover funds of the health budget.

“The Finance Ministry, in a letter of approval forwarded to the Health Ministry, has stated that the funds will be released,” said Dr Marasini.

According to him, in some hilly areas, where the programme was introduced in a small scale, the number of women visiting hospitals and health posts for deliveries rose to 100, which was 30 earlier.

The government had issued a ‘Delivery Service Regulation’ on March 31, 2005.

While a pregnant woman who hails from the terai and visits a hospital or health post for safe delivery will receive Rs 500 as transportation cost, the pregnant women hailing from the hilly and mountainous regions will get Rs 1000 and Rs 1500 each respectively.

The needy can get money from the respective hospitals and health posts. The money will be given only up to two children. Health service providers, too, will get Rs 300 per delivery, the regulation states.

Sumitra Shrestha, senior public health officer at the Family Health Division, said “the government could not introduce the programme on time due to lack of reliable data”. “Even though the amount is small, the incentive could encourage women to take help from skilled birth attendants while delivering babies.” Nepal witnesses around one million deliveries each year and has a very high maternal mortality rate.

The government and the Department For International Fund (DFID) are supporting the programme.

Dr Kasturi Malla, director at the Indra Rajya Laxmi Maternity Hospital, said: Since only around 10 per cent of pregnant women seek medical help from health institutions, the government should concentrate more on generating awareness among the communities so that they seek skilled birth attendants while delivering babies even at home.

The major risk of maternal mortality is post-partum haemorrhage, obstructed labour, hypertensive diseases in pregnancies, infection and unsafe abortion. “These can be easily checked only if the women take help from skilled birth attendants or visit hospitals for safe delivery,” said Dr Malla.