ISLAMABAD, Sept 2: About 15,000 women die every year due to pregnancy-related complications, Federal Minister for Health Mohammad Nasir Khan informed the National Assembly on Friday.

In response to a question of MNA Yasmeen Rehman, the health minister told the lower house that a survey conducted by the National Institute of Population Studies indicated that from 1988 to 2000, maternal mortality ratio (MMR) was 533 per 100,000 live births.

Mr Khan said in the survey, titled “Pakistan Reproductive Health and Family Planning Survey 2000-01” the MMR was estimated through an indirect method (sisterhood method). In 200 it indicated the MMR of 70-400 per 100,000 live births which was also estimated through mathematical modelling and the results were jointly published by the World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef and the UNFPA.

The minister said that the Planning Commission had formed a committee of experts on maternal mortality and this committee had estimated MMR of 340-400 per 100,000 live births in the year 2003.

Mr Khan said that 48 per cent of births were attended by the skilled attendants in urban areas as compared to only 20 per cent in rural areas.