Bhubaneswar, Oct 14: In a bid to minimise infants’ mortality rate in Odisha, the State government has launched a service 104 Health Helpline particularly for expectant mothers and children.
The programme will be in partnership with Ziqita Healthcare Limited (ZHL) to track all the expectant mothers and newborn babies through Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) and monitor their health till they attain the age of 5 years.
Around 8 lakh pregnant women, 7 lakh new mothers and infants, 45,000 ASHA workers and 7,000 ANM will get benefits under the programme.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak, who launched the programme on Tuesday, said the programme is expected to reduce the maternal mortality rate (MMR) and infant mortality rate IMR. This will improve the nutritional level in infants.
“A roadmap has been prepared for bringing down IMR and MMR to National average within next 5 years in the State. The government has allocated Rs 50 crore for implementation of different healthcare programmes for pregnant women and children during the current fiscal,” the Minister said.
