Howrah is going in for an overhaul of the health sector, estimated to cost about Rs 10 crore, with particular emphasis on reproductive child health.

Earlier in May, the state government had decided on significant reforms in the health sector that enabled the districts to get funds in accordance with needs. The government has asked the health department to chalk out the action plan for next year.

?We want to exploit this opportunity to the fullest. We are preparing an activity plan for the next year. We are planning massive changes to improve maternal and child health in Howrah,? said Sankar Saha, chief medical officer, health (CMOH), Howrah.

He said the urban areas will first undergo changes, followed by the entire district.

?Since the health department has no direct infrastructure in the Howrah Municipal Corporation (HMC) area, the facilities of the HMC, Indian Population Project 8, Calcutta Urban Development Project, NGOs and private nursing homes and hospitals will be used to identify service centres for Reproductive Child Health, Phase II, launched on April 1,? he said.

A 10-bed speciality neonatal care unit will be set up at Howrah State General Hospital. The unit will have state-of-the-art arrangements for mother and child. ?Neo-natal stabilising units, with modern gadgets and facilities, will be set up in five rural hospitals and 14 block primary health centres across Howrah,? the CMOH added.

?For the benefit of both mother and foetus, three antenatal check-ups for the mothers will be made mandatory at government hospitals, health centres and sub-centres,? the CMOH said.

About 300 women will undergo a 10-day training programme in a phased manner to assist safer home deliveries.

They will be given instruments and drugs necessary during childbirth. ?According to our initial estimate, nearly 30 per cent of the total deliveries in Howrah take place at home. Many babies die during birth or right after birth owing to delivery by inexpert people,? he continued.

Against a lakh live deliveries, about 200 mothers die. The infant mortality rate is 40/1,000 live deliveries.

Saha conceded that deliveries at home can?t be eliminated overnight, but added: ?campaigns will be carried out across Howrah in favour of institutional deliveries?.