To reduce infant and maternal mortality rates, the government is equipping doctors across the country with multiple skills to deal with emergency services.
"The general doctors are being equipped with multiple life-saving skills to attend to emergency service. We hope maternal and infant mortality rates will be reduced by utilisation of this service," health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said.
He said that Janani Sukaksha Yojana, aimed at reducing maternal and infant mortality rates, has played a major role in reducing maternal mortality rate, with over 10 million pregnant women benefiting from it in the last financial year.
Over seven lakh female health workers have been positioned in various parts of the country to execute the programme while the government had spent more than $300 on this scheme, Azad said inaugurating the first “global maternal health conference” here.
Expressing concern over the increased incidence of teenage pregnancy in the country, he said the phenomenon is only adding to the woes of infant and maternal mortality rates.
He called upon the conference to debate on this issue and find ways on "how best we can provide adolescent friendly health services" for the adolescent age group.
The minister said 150 districts have been identified where sanitary napkins will be provided as part of its initiative to extend health services to adolescent girls.
The government will also provide contraceptives at the primary health centres as well as at the panchayat level, he said. Azad said the government has identified 264 districts with low health parameters to provide extra support in creation of health infrastructure and skill upgradation of the health workers. Additional incentives like 40 per cent extra money will be extended to medicos serving in these places.
Deputy chairman Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia favoured a three-fold increase in public expenditure on health services from the present 1.2 per cent of the GDP.