Parliament Question: Maternal Mortality Rate

GOVERNMENT OFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTHAND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENT OFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE LOK SABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 3474 TO BE ANSWERED ON 13thMARCH, 2026 MATERNALMORTALITYRATE †3474.SHRISATISH KUMAR GAUTAM: SHRICHAVDAVINOD LAKHAMSHI: SMT.MAHIMAKUMARIMEWAR: SHRIJAGDAMBIKAPAL: DR. D. PURANDESWARI: SHRICHINTAMANIMAHARAJ: DR. RAJESH MISHRA: SHRIALOK SHARMA: SHRINALIN SOREN: SHRIJANARDAN MISHRA: SHRIRAVINDRASHUKLAALIAS RAVIKISHAN: SHRIBHARTRUHARI MAHTAB: SHRINABACHARAN MAJHI: SHRIVIJAYKUMAR DUBEY: Will the MINISTER OFHEALTHAND FAMILYWELFAREbe pleased tostate: (a) the current Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and the decline recorded over the last five years in the country, State/UT-wise including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, especiallyinSurguja district andDumka Parliamentary constituencyof Jharkhand; (b) the major initiatives undertaken by the Government to reduce maternal mortality, particularlyinrural andunderserved areasof the country; (c) whether the Government has identified key challenges in addressing maternal mortality and, if so, the details thereof along with the measures taken by the Government to overcome them; (d) the role of institutional deliveries and antenatal care in reducing maternal deaths along with the numberof institutional deliveriesrecordedduring the last three years; and (e) the steps taken by the Government to achieve the global maternal health targets and SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs)? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SMT.ANUPRIYAPATEL) (a) As per the latest bulletin on Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) 2021-23, released by theRegistrar General of India, the MMR of the country is 88 per lakh live births. The State/UT -wise details of MMR including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand isplacedat Annexure I. (b) , (c) and (e) Under the National Health Mission (NHM), the Government of India has undertaken various initiatives to reduce maternal mortality across all States and Union Territories, including rural and underserved areas of the country, to achieve the maternal health targets along with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are provided below:  Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) isa demand promotion andconditional cash transfer scheme for promotinginstitutional delivery.  JananiShishuSuraksha Karyakram(JSSK)entitlesallpregnantwoman delivering in public health institutions to have absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesareansection. The entitlements include free drugs, consumables, free dietduring stay, free diagnostics, free transportation and free blood transfusion, if required. Similar entitlementsare also inplace for sick infantsuptoone yearof age.  Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA) provides pregnant women a fixed day, free of cost, assured and quality antenatal check up by a Specialist/Medical Officeronthe 9thdayof everymonth. ExtendedPMSMAstrategy ensures quality antenatal care (ANC) to pregnant women, especially to high-risk pregnant (HRP) women and individual HRP tracking until a safe delivery is achieved by means of financial incentivization for the identified high-risk pregnant women and accompanying ASHA for extra 3 visits over and above the PMSMAvisit.  LaQshya improves the quality of care in labour room and maternity operation theatres to ensure that pregnant women receive respectful and quality care during delivery and immediatepost-partum.  Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) provides assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services for every pregnant woman and new-born visiting public health facilities to end all preventable maternal and newborn deaths.  OptimizingPostnatal Careaims to strengthen the quality of post-natal care by laying emphasis ondetectionof dangersigns inmothersandincentivization of AccreditedSocial Health Activists (ASHAs) for prompt detection, referral & treatment of such high-risk postpartum mothers.  Monthly Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) an outreach activity at Anganwadi centres ensures service provision of maternal and childcare in convergence with the ICDS.  Outreach camps are provisioned for improving the reach of health care services especially in tribal and hard to reach areas. This platform is used to increase awarenessfor the Maternal & Child healthservices, communitymobilization aswell asto trackhigh risk pregnancies.  Mother and Child Protection (MCP) Card and Safe Motherhood Booklet are distributed to the pregnant women for educating them on diet, rest, danger signs of pregnancy, benefitschemesandinstitutional deliveries.  Strengthening of infrastructure, including functionalization of First Referral Units (FRUs), setting up of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Wings, operationalization of Obstetric High Dependency Units & Intensive Care Units (Obst. HDU & ICU), establishment of Birth Waiting Homes (BWHs) in difficult terrain, remote and tribal areasfor improvedaccesstohealthcare facilitiesandpromotinginstitutional delivery. (d) Institutional deliveries and antenatal care play a crucial role in reducing maternal mortality in the country. Deliveries conducted in health institutions with the assistance of skilled birth attendants (SBA) help in managing complications that may arise at any time during pregnancy,childbirth, or the postnatal period. Antenatal care ensures early registration of pregnancy, regularhealth check-ups, screening andidentificationof high-risk pregnancies, provision of essential supplementssuch asIron & Folic Acid, Calcium & Vit. D3 and counselling on birth preparedness and complication readiness, enablingtimelyreferral andmanagement of complications. The number of institutional deliveries conducted in last three years is placed at Annexure II. *******Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 3474 to be answered on13.03.2026 Annexure-l State/ UT-wise MaternalMortalityRatio (MMR) over thelast five yearsasperSample Registration Survey(SRS) SRS SRS SRS S.No. India/States 2019-21 2020-22 2021-23 India 93 88 88 1 Andhra Pradesh 46 47 30 2 Assam 167 125 110 3 Bihar 100 91 104 4 Jharkhand 51 50 54 5 Gujarat 53 55 51 6 Haryana 106 89 89 7 Karnataka 63 58 68 8 Kerala 20 18 30 9 Madhya Pradesh 175 159 142 10 Chhattisgarh 132 141 146 11 Maharashtra 38 36 36 12 Odisha 135 136 153 13 Punjab 98 92 90 14 Rajasthan 102 87 86 15 TamilNadu 49 38 35 16 Telangana 45 50 59 17 Uttar Pradesh 151 141 141 18 Uttarakhand 100 104 91 19 West Bengal 109 105 104 20 Other States 71 81 86 Source - Sample Registration System (SRS),RGI ReportAnnexure referred to in reply to part (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 3474 to be answered on13.03.2026 Annexure-II Thenumberof Institutionaldeliveries conductedin thecountryinlast three yearsi.e FY2022-23, FY2023-24 andFY2024-25 Sno Institutional deliveries FY2022-23 FY2023-24 FY2024-25 1. India 20165533 19799153 19355420 Source: HMIS