It remains govt's duty to remove bottlenecks in ensuring safe motherhood: Bharati Pravin Pawar

India has achieved a momentous milestone in the reduction of maternal mortality ratio, but it remains the governments duty to remove all bottlenecks, especially at the field level, in ensuring safe motherhood, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said on Wednesday.The countrys maternal mortality ratio has declined from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 97 per lakh live births in 2018-20.

India has achieved a momentous milestone in the reduction of maternal mortality ratio, but it remains the government's duty to remove all bottlenecks, especially at the field level, in ensuring safe motherhood, Union Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said on Wednesday.

The country's maternal mortality ratio has declined from 130 per lakh live births in 2014-16 to 97 per lakh live births in 2018-20. Maternal mortality in a region is a measure of the reproductive health of women in the area.

Many women of reproductive age die due to complications during and following pregnancy and childbirth or abortion.

Charing a National Maternal Health Workshop here, Pawar said India is on a positive trajectory for maternal health and child health outcomes. The government is committed to withstanding new challenges while assuring safe motherhood with steps towards providing accessible and affordable healthcare, she said.

''The country has achieved a momentous milestone in reduction of maternal mortality ratio... But it remains our duty to remove all bottlenecks, especially at field level, to ensure that every mother is cared for and consequently ensure zero preventable maternal mortality,'' the minister said.

She said the ''rapid decline'' in maternal mortality ratio shows the government's dedication towards investments in health initiatives under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ensuring health for all''. Aligning with the 'Sustainable Development Goal Agenda 2030' for maternal mortality reduction, the theme of the workshop was 'striving for zero preventable maternal mortality'. ''Earlier, India was losing more than 44,000 mothers. With the implementation of 'Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan', as part of which doctors pledge one day of service per month to this campaign, more than 3.6 crore pregnant women have received comprehensive ANC across all States and UTs,'' Pawar said.

She noted that the number of states which have achieved Sustainable Development Goal targets has also now risen from six to eight. ''It is not just the responsibility of the government, community health workers, NGOs and civil society. Every citizen of the country must consider it as their duty to ensure safe motherhood, and work towards zero preventable maternal deaths in India,'' the Union minister said.