Shillong, July 16: Meghalaya is aiming to raise institutional deliveries to over 90 per cent as part of a broader push to improve maternal and child health, Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma stated after reviewing the state’s health sector with Health Minister Wailadmiki Shylla.
The review assessed the state’s performance under the Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) and examined the encouraging gains reflected in the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6), particularly the decline in maternal deaths attributed to a rise in institutional deliveries.
Sangma said initiatives such as the Chief Minister’s Safe Motherhood Scheme (CM-SMS), which provides transport support for expectant mothers, have played a key role in improving access to institutional deliveries. While significant progress has been made, he said the government’s next target is to ensure that more than 90 per cent of all deliveries take place in health institutions.
The review also focused on strengthening maternal healthcare by improving first-trimester registration of pregnancies, ensuring timely iron and folic acid supplementation, and enhancing antenatal and postnatal care through ANMs, ASHA workers and Anganwadi workers.
To deepen community participation, the government discussed expanding the Community Caregiver Initiative with the support of Village Organisations and Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
Child nutrition was another key area of discussion, with emphasis on promoting exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, improving nutrition for mothers and children, and encouraging healthy birth spacing.
The Chief Minister also stressed the need to intensify awareness and preventive measures against non-communicable diseases, including hypertension, through lifestyle interventions and community-based healthcare initiatives.
The review comes as the Meghalaya government continues to focus on improving key health indicators and strengthening last-mile healthcare delivery across the state.
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