By Arindam Ganguly, OP
Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Thursday directed the Health and Family Welfare (H&FW) department to take strong measures to bring down the maternal mortality rate (MMR) to the lowest possible level.
The directive came during a high-level review meeting held under the PRAYASS (Proactive Governance Attempt for Yielding Results and Advancing Social Sector) initiative. Reviewing social sector initiatives with a focus on healthcare, nutrition, and school education at Lok Seva Bhawan, the CM emphasised identifying problems at the grassroots and ensuring their speedy resolution.
Majhi stated that a strong society is built upon healthcare, nutrition, and quality education, calling for a campaign-mode approach to reduce infant and neonatal mortality, particularly in rural and remote areas. Majhi said a strong society could be built through improvements in healthcare, nutrition and quality education, and called for greater focus on these three areas.
Reviewing the health sector, Majhi directed the H&FW department to take strong measures to bring down the MMR to the lowest possible level. He also called for a campaign-mode approach to reduce infant mortality and neonatal mortality, with special emphasis on providing quality healthcare to pregnant women and newborns in rural and remote areas.
The meeting also reviewed the issue of malnutrition among children, including problems such as stunting and wasting. Majhi directed the authorities to intensify the ‘Suposhit Odisha’ campaign to comprehensively address malnutrition and improve the health of mothers and children.
He also stressed close monitoring of the quality of food and nutritional supplements being provided through Anganwadi centres, besides ensuring better standards in their delivery. On education, the CM called for greater efforts to improve the quality of foundational learning from the primary level.