PALPA, June 18: More than half of the women of Siluwa in Purbakhola Rural Municipality-1, prefer delivering their babies at home instead of birthing centers. While the rural municipality is conducting 'Zero home delivery' campaign in full swing, a large number of mothers still deliver their babies at home by risking their lives.
This fiscal year, a total of 23 women of Siluwa delivered their babies at home while 18 of them delivered babies at health organizations.
Basanta KC, a local health worker has received training in helping women deliver babies. According to her, geographical difficulty and lack of awareness among the women is the reason why most of the women deliver babies at home.
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"Women hesitate to come for antenatal check-ups. Some of them can't visit heath centers due to geographical difficulties," said KC.
Though the rural municipality has conducted awareness programs for the women regarding the importance of delivering babies at health centers, still some of the women hesitate to come forward. "The rooms where the babies are delivered are congested," she said, adding, "The government provides transportation charge of Rs 1,000 to pregnant women. We provide them with additional Rs 400 if they complete all four check-ups before birth and Rs 600 for transportation."
Health organizations associated with Siluwa Health Post had aimed to help 94 women deliver their babies this year, but that seems like a far-fetched dream. In the months of May and June, 5/5 women delivered their babies in health posts while two did it at home.
"We have aimed to make zero home delivery by the next fiscal year," said Mohan Dhakal, information officer at the rural municipality. He further informed that all health posts of the local units have birthing centers.
In January, 2015, Manakala Nepali of Siluwa-9 lost her life as her family members failed to take her to hospital on time. Nineteen years old Manakala was struggling with postpartum bleeding as her family was preparing to take her to Lumbini Medical College for treatment. Unfortunately, she died on the way.
Purbakhola Rural Municipality is the first local unit of the district to have birthing centers in all wards.
