Guest houses for expectant mothers in Rudraprayag district

DEHRADUN: The safety of expectant mothers has always been a concern, specially in hilly terrains. Reaching hospitals safely and on time in mountainous regions has proved to be a tough task in the past. Usually, expectant women hailing from far flung areas are rushed on a cot by the family and relatives at the very last minute, thus increasing chances of casualty.
To improve the situation, Rudraprayag district administration has come up with a unique concept of converting a room of the Agyastamuni CHC into a special guest house “Pratyasha” with six beds and good facilities and food. The facility will be provided free-of-cost to expectant women, who are in the high risk zone with complications such as high blood pressure are anemic or have low hemoglobin.
DM Rudraprayag, Mangesh Ghildiyal, who is behind the project, said, “Our teams had been conducting surveys and found out that 42 women across hill district of Rudraprayag were in the high risk zone. Bringing them to hospitals in the last moment becomes a risk.” He added that if the family admits the woman a month before the delivery date to centre’s in Rudraprayag, Agastyamuni and Guptkashi, it becomes a costly affair.
The move is aimed at improving maternal deaths and women can stay at the centre for over a month.
“If feedback is good, we may open a similar guesthouse in Guptkashi,” the DM said.
CMO Rudraprayag Dr Saroj Naithani said, “They prefer to stay at relative’s residence or in a guest house. Both ways, they end up spending a lot of money. We came up with the initiative to help the families.”
She added that besides good rooms, they will also be given clean washrooms. “We are making efforts to provide better facilities to the pregnant woman. Our teams are spreading awareness about this guest house and we are confident of opening more such facilities,” she added.
Rudraprayag DM to launch software to help pregnant women
The Rudraprayag district administration is also launching a software to assist pregnant women, who are in the high risk zone. DM Mangesh Ghildiyal said that preparation for the launch of the software is in the final phase and it is expected to come into practice soon. The entire data of the expectant women in the high risk zone along with their address and health report would be fed in the software. Ghildiyal said, “We will send specific messages to each and every identified woman. A woman with high blood pressure will only receive messages on how to control blood pressure.” The message would advise treatment and also the guidance and precautions required for the problem.