Birendranagar, December 12

Expecting mothers delivering at health facilities in Karnali Province are entitled to receive Rs 2,000 each for nutrition.

The ‘maternity nutrition package programme’, announced by Karnali Province Ministry of Social Development has come into effect this month. As part of the package, Rs 2,000 each will be provided to women delivering child at government health facilities.

With this arrangement in place, a woman delivering child at government health facilities in Karnali Province will receive Rs 4,800. Earlier, an expecting mother used to get Rs 2,000 as travel allowance and Rs 800 each for four pre-natal tests.

Chetan Nidhi Wagle, chief of Surkhet District Public Health Office, said only women from disadvantaged groups are entitled to get nutrition amount of Rs 2,000 in the Province-run hospitals. However, the package is also applicable for those delivering child in other health facilities.

Dal Rawal, minister of Social Development, said the programme was designed to incentivise expecting mothers to deliver child in health facilities. “It is to provide relief to women from disadvantaged and poor communities in Karnali and help promote safe motherhood,” he added.

Karnali Province Ministry of Social Development has allocated a budget of 40 million rupees for the nutrition package in the current fiscal.