LAHORE: The IRMNCH & Nutrition Programme Punjab has stated that 1,000 pregnant women and 88,000 children died in Punjab’s private as well as public healthcare facilities, adding the data also includes such deaths occurring at homes.

In a press release issued on Saturday, IRMNCH & N Programme in response to a news item published in Dawn edition of March 24, said, “...these are cumulative provincial figures of maternal mortality reported by the LHWs from all across the province. These figures include overall mortality reported from public and private hospitals as well as from homes and not from the Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Rural Health Centres (RHCs)”.

It further says that Punjab is the only province to have developed this system to collect, consolidate and analyse maternal mortality data from community and this data collection mechanism does not exist anywhere else in the country. It adds that currently, Punjab has the lowest Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) in the country.

It says most of these deaths are linked to deliveries at home as there is reluctance in community to seek services from skilled attendants and people mostly prefer local ‘dayee’ (birth attendant).

It says out of 88,021 reported deaths, 62,831 were stillbirths which is a natural and global phenomena.

It adds that IRMNCH programme transported 415,696 pregnant women to BHUs and RHCs to ensure safe deliveries. Similarly, it says, 46,854 women were transferred to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospitals (THQs) and District Headquarters Hospitals (DHQs) due to birth-related complications. In Punjab’s 1,234 BHUs not a single maternal death was reported in 2021, it says.

It is, however, pertinent to mention that the Dawn story was based on an official report prepared by the Punjab Planning & Development Board.

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2022