5,785 newborns died in Maharashtra in 2015-16

Beneath all the brouhaha over Smart Cities, rising industrial investment and claims of economic growth, lies a grim reality — that of infant and maternal mortality rate.

In a written reply to a question by BJP's Dr Milind Mane (Nagpur North) and others in the state legislative assembly on Wednesday, health minister Dr Deepak Sawant admitted that in 2015-16, a total of 5,785 newborns died in Maharashtra, except Mumbai.

In the two districts of Mumbai, the number of infants who died between January and December 2015 was 2,784. In the 2015-16 fiscal, the deaths of infants and mothers in Pune district was 334 and nine respectively, while that in Yavatmal was 276 and 25.

In tribal-dominated Melghat in Amravati district, 176 children between zero and six years of age have died between July and December 2015.

Sawant said the reasons for maternal mortality included high blood pressure, excessive bleeding and infection, while deaths of newborns, infants and children were due to low birth weight, premature births, breathing problems, accidents, infection, diarrhea and pneumonia.

Sawant, however, claimed a slew of measures taken by them, including checkups for pregnant women and provision of iron tablets, implementation of the Janani Suraksha Yojana, Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana, institutional deliveries, focus on breast feeding and complementary nutrition, follow up through home-visits by Asha workers and immunisation had led to a fall in the maternal, child and infant mortality rates.