Alarming rise in child mortality rate

Islamabad
As many as 125 new born babies died in just eight major hospitals of Punjab in November 2014, an alarming trend that health experts blame on poor public health facilities and lack of awareness among pregnant mothers.
The certified information provided by eight major districts of the province revealed that district headquarters hospitals (DHQs) of Mianwali, Gujranwala and Faisalabad have witnessed majority of neonatal deaths while hospitals of Lahore and Rawalpindi witnessed the lowest fatalities.
The official data collected from the eight districts under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act (RTI) 2013, shows that 36 new-born babies died in Mianwali DHQ alone while 35 neonatal deaths were reported in Faisalabad district hospital from November 1 to November 24 last year. The number of total deliveries was 126 in Mianwali and 536 in Faisalabad.
Talking to The News, a senior gynaecologist of Rawalpindi said several factors are responsible for neonatal deaths. She said Intra-Uterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) or poor growth of a baby in the mother’s womb during pregnancy is one of the major causes of neonatal deaths in Pakistan, as mothers are not given proper care, especially in poor areas.
She added that lack of equipment like Cardio Toco Graph Machines in some districts is also one of reasons for high death rate. “The government should ensure supply of latest equipment to all the districts of the country besides creating awareness about the maternal and child health in rural areas where people consult ill-trained birth attendants during pregnancy,” she said
The official data shows that in Gujranwala district headquarters hospital, 24 new born died out of 310 births during the same period. In Rajanpur 11 deaths were reported in DHQ during 163 deliveries in November 2015 while 10 deaths were reported in Jhelum where the number of births remained 282.
In Lahore and Rawalpindi three deaths of new born babies were reported in each DHQs during the same period.
When asked by The News, medical superintendent of DHQ Mianwali Malik Muhammad Khan said the hospital is the only nursery in the district so complicated cases from all tehsils are brought to the hospital. He said on average 30 plus neonatal deaths are witnessed in the hospital.