No water, power, drugs for deliveries as even Rs 10,000 for centres waylaid

July 25, 2011

It’s a freshly whitewashed pink room of 10 X 8 sq ft, but the paint peels off at the touch of a finger. There is no electricity. There are no medical kits or emergency drugs in sight either. This is the room where a 21-year-old delivered a child after labour pains all night. In the past one year, this room — the “sub-centre” of Mahillo Ashapur — has seen 221 deliveries in all. One of the major aims of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is to promote institutional and safe deliveries in order to bring down infant and maternal mortality rates. Sub-centres like the one at Mahillo Ashapur, just over four hours from Lucknow, are a part of that effort.

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