Shillong, Oct 13: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Tuesday said the death of an infant in West Khasi Hills was unfortunate but cautioned against judging the entire maternal health system on one incident.
“There are always incidents that happen, unfortunate and should not have happened. I will not be in a position right now to give all the details of it,” Sangma said.
He said the government is working to save every life but the larger impact of its programmes must be acknowledged.
“Every part is important, every life is important and has to be saved. But we will miss the big picture if we scrutinize the entire process on the basis of one incident and say this is not working,” he said.
The chief minister said thousands of lives have been saved through the early childhood development and CM Safe Motherhood programmes.
“Today, more than one lakh trips have been made, funded by the Government of Meghalaya, by pregnant mothers free of cost for their check-ups through the Mother App. Those trips ended up saving the lives of mothers,” he said.
He said over 200 safe motherhood transit homes are functional and high-risk mothers are monitored daily and provided transport and financial support.
“Because of those efforts, in the last 4-5 years maternal mortality has reduced by 57 percent. This has come from the Prime Minister’s Office. The Meghalaya model is something the country is studying today,” Sangma said.
He admitted that challenges remain.
“It is not a perfect system. We do have some incidents that take place. Should it happen? It should not have happened. My mission is not to reduce but to completely eliminate any life being lost. When a mother is bringing life to this world, why should we lose the life of a mother,” he said.
On road connectivity, Sangma said the highest number of roads have been constructed in the last 7-8 years, more than in the last 25 years combined, but constraints remain.
“We cannot make all roads in one go. There are a lot of challenges but we are in the right direction, things are improving. Wherever there are problems, we will work extra to overcome those challenges,” he added.
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