Centre has taken care of pregnant women in Manipur even as conflict continues, govt tells LS

The centre has provided ‘Antenatal Care Checkups’ (ANC) to 319 pregnant women in conflict-ridden areas of Manipur on a regular basis, Bharati Pravin Pawar, minister of state for health & family welfare, informed Lok Sabha on Friday. Around 139 pregnant women have delivered from the time of onset of the current crisis till 27 July, he said. The state of Manipur has been witnessing ongoing tensions between two ethnic groups, Meitei and Kuki, for the past two and a half months, which have severely affected the healthcare and other social services in the region. To address the situation, the Union Health Ministry dispatched six teams, each comprising four doctors, in May, and an additional team of four doctors earlier this month to provide essential healthcare services, including antenatal care, to pregnant women in the affected areas. “Regular health check-ups are being done in all the designated relief camps across the state and those who are seriously ill are promptly transferred to the nearest Hospitals by Ambulance services,” said Pawar. He said that in each of the affected districts across the state, medical teams have been constituted to provide overall healthcare services to the victims in the designated relief camps. “Health care of the women and children including lactating mothers and feeding infants is provided under the maternal health and child health programs,” Pawar stated. In addition to this, mental health care of the victims in the designated relief camps is provided under National Mental Health Program.