LaQshya programme
Why in news:
The Union Health Ministry has announced the launch of LaQshya, a programme aimed at improving quality of care in labour room and maternity operation theatre.
About the Programme:
1.What is it? It is an initiative to improve the quality of care in the labour rooms, operation theatres and other mother and child areas in public health facilities across the country.
2.Aim: The programme aims at implementing ‘fast-track’ interventions for achieving tangible results within 18 months.
3.Strategy: Under the initiative, a multipronged strategy has been adopted, including improving infrastructure upgradation, ensuring availability of essential equipment, providing adequate human resources, capacity building of healthcare workers and improving quality processes in the labour room.
4.Guidelines include: Ensuring privacy for mothers-to-be, providing a comfortable position during delivery, no-tolerance policy towards verbal or physical abuse on women and no demand of gratuitous payment by the staff.
5.LaQshya certification: A healthcare facility achieving 70% score on NQAS will be declared ‘LaQshya’ certified. Facilities scoring over 90, 80 and 70% will get platinum, gold and silver badges respectively.
6.Incentives: Facilities achieving NQAS certification and having 80% satisfied beneficiaries will be given monetary incentive with medical college hospitals getting Rs 6 lakh and Rs 3 lakh for district hospitals.
Background:
India has improved maternal survival as Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) reduced from 301 maternal deaths in 2001-03 to 167 in 2011-13, an impressive decline of 45% in a decade.
Concerns:
There has been a substantial increase in the number of the institutional deliveries in the last decade of implementation of the National Health Mission (NHM). However, this increase in the numbers has not translated into commensurate improvements in the key maternal and new-born indicators such as maternal mortality and morbidity, still birth rates and early initiation of breastfeeding.
Significance of the scheme:
The available evidence shows that the first day of birth is the day of greatest risk for mothers and newborns. The programme will improve the quality of care for pregnant women in labour rooms, maternity operation theatres, and obstetrics Intensive Care Units and High Dependency Units.
Sources: pib.
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