By Swati Reddy
Mothers With Their New-Borns Making Rounds Of Govt Hospitals
The government has ‘incentivised’ institutional delivery by giving cash assistance under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). However, the ‘janani’ (mother) is having a tough time to avail the assistance as she is made to make rounds to the hospital with the new-born as proof.
Under the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) scheme, the government extends cash assistance to women who go in for institutional delivery within 48 hours. However, government hospitals in the city take nothing less than 45 days to disburse the paltry Rs 600.
Shabana Begum from Shaheen Nagar, who delivered a baby girl at Government Maternity Hospital, Nayapul, three months ago, got the money on her fourth visit to the hospital. “The staff at the hospital informed us about the JSY and asked us to collect the money. However, when we approached the concerned official, he said there was a cash crunch and asked us to come later. Another time, they said tokens were over at around 12 noon. We ended up spending nearly Rs 600,” Mohammed Mujahid, Shabana’s husband who was accompanying her, said.
On the other hand, Ruqaiyah Begum from Hassannagar, who gave birth to twins, could not avail the benefit as the staff wrote her name wrongly on the form and later refused to make corrections.
Blaming improper release of the budget as the reason for the delay, Government Maternity Hospital, Nayapul, RMO Dr K Chandrasekhar said due to some administrative problems also there was a delay.
In March and April, the release of the budget gets delayed and hence the pending cases get carried over, Dr S Sharada of Niloufer Hospital said.
Of the total 58,000 deliveries this year up to December 15 in Hyderabad, a total of 4,800 women were JSY beneficiaries. And 23,000 family planning operations were done in Hyderabad alone. The government also extends a cash assistance of Rs 880 for women from below poverty level (BPL) families, while for others it is Rs 250 for getting family planning operations done. Men are being given Rs 1,450 and Rs 1,000 respectively for getting a vasectomy done. “As per data, around 17 per cent of AP’s population comes under BPL category. However, everybody claims they are from BPL family. The JSY is a complex issue. We have issued a circular to the auxillary nurse midwives (ANMs) to keep Rs 5,000 in advance so that they can pay soon after the delivery is done. There is no fund crunch,” commissioner, family welfare, Dr Anil Punetha told HNN.
About 88 per cent of births in Andhra Pradesh are now institutional deliveries. This year, the government sanctioned Rs 1.90 crores for the JSY.
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