Bhubaneswar, Feb. 21: In an attempt to encourage institutional delivery and make transportation available 24 hours for pregnant women, National Rural Health Mission and health and family welfare department would launch a scheme called Janani Express.

Pregnant rural women can now use the Janani Express — a transport facility — to safely reach health centres and hospitals before delivery, especially in emergencies.

To begin with, the scheme would be implemented in 124 blocks, where the delivery load is 50 and beyond, per month. Besides pregnant women, sick infants, too, will benefit from the facility.

The vehicles for transporting the pregnant women will be available at government hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres.

They would be equipped with necessary facilities to carry the mothers-to-be to health centres.

The drivers of the vehicles will carry mobile phones so that they can furnish information about the status of each patient to the hospital.

The scheme’s name, Janani Express, will be clearly mentioned on both the front and rear sides of the vehicle, while the contact telephone numbers will also be written clearly. In areas where mobile phone facility is not available, landline numbers of hospitals would be mentioned on the vehicle.

Orissa does have a number of medical personnel, but 80 per cent of them are concentrated in urban areas, whereas 25 per cent of the population stay compared to 20 per cent medical personnel in rural areas, where 75 per cent of the population resides.

The state has a maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 358 per 1,00,000 and an infant mortality rate of 73 per 1,000, according to a 2006 sample registration system under Register General of India. India’s overall MMR is 450 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Despite several government schemes and funds allocation, MMR has been one of the prime worries of the administration here.

The deaths have been attributed to lack of medical facilities and trained attendants in rural areas.

The fact that almost 65 per cent of births take place in homes without assistance from trained attendants also adds to the numbers.

Statistics reveal that MMR is significantly higher among SC and ST women as compared to others in India irrespective of their place of stay.