Infant deaths decline in J&K, 27, 604 preferred delivery at home

SRINAGAR: Claiming that Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has witnessed the decline from 51 in 2007 to 37 in 2013 in Jammu and Kashmir, the government today said it was better than National average of 40. This information was given by Minister for Health and Medical Education Choudhary Lal Singh in the Legislative Council in reply to a question by Firdous Ahmad Tak. The reply said that as per the Sample Registration System (SRS), IMR in Jammu and Kashmir state was 51 in the year 2007 which has declined to 37 in the year 2013 and is better than the national average of 40. He said special new born care units have been sanctioned for all district hospitals under the National Health Mission (NHM). However, only 19 are functional, he informed the House. The reply said 2,292 infant deaths were reported in 2013-14 while the number was 2008 in 2014-15 and 2034 deaths were reported in 2015-16. Jammu district reported highest 557 infant death in 2015-16 against 527 in 2014-15 and 634 in 2013-14. Ganderbal, a central Kashmir district has reported zero infant mortality during the past three years, the reply said. Anantnag (105) and Baramulla (142) in Kashmir and Poonch 137 were the districts where the IMR was above 100 during 2015-16. The reply said out of 6716 patients admitted to Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar and its associated hospital, 132 infant deaths were reported this year up to May 2016 while the number was 17316 admissions 324 deaths during 2014 and 364 deaths against 19300 admissions in 2015. Records in GMC, Jammu and its associated hospitals reveal that out of 10335 admissions, 611 infant deaths were reported during 2015-16, the number was 9705 admissions and 587 deaths during 2014-15 and 9971 admissions and 693 infant deaths during 2013-14. The reply said 27604 deliveries were conducted at homes in the Jammu and Kashmir during the year 2015-16 against 142797 deliveries in different government institutions. He said 8686 deliveries were conducted in private clinics and hospitals. The number of home delivery in 2014-15 was 27104 against deliveries in GMC and associate hospitals 148386 and private hospitals 8060. The reply said during the year 2013-14 the home delivery was 30299 against 139581 in GMC and its associate hospitals and 8743 in private hospitals . (AGENCIES)