Parliament Question: Reduction of maternal mortality ratio

GOVERNMENTOFINDIA MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE RAJYASABHA UNSTARREDQUESTION NO. 2829 TO BE ANSWERED ON17THMARCH 2026 REDUCTION OFMATERNALMORTALITYRATIO 2829SHRIMAHARAJASANAJAOBALEISHEMBA: Will the MINISTER OFHEALTHAND FAMILYWELFAREbe pleased tostate: (a)the current status of Maternal Mortality Ratio(MMR) of the country, State& UT-wise; (b) whether the Ministry hasundertakenanymajorinterventions for the reductionof MMR in the country; (c)if so, the detailsthereof; (d) whether the Ministry has examined the MMR of Caesarean Section (CS) and normal deliveryinthe country; and (e)if so, the findingsthereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OFSTATE IN THE MINISTRYOFHEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (SMT. ANUPRIYAPATEL) (a) to (e) As per the Special Bulletin on Maternal Mortality, 2021-23, released by the Registrar General of India (RGI), the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) of the country is 88 perlakhlive births. The State-wise detailsof MMR isplacedat Annexure. The Government of India has undertaken various interventions under the National Health Mission (NHM) toreduce the MMR of the country. The keyinterventionsinclude: ● Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) isa demand promotion andconditional cash transfer scheme for promotinginstitutional delivery. ● Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) under which every pregnant woman andsick infant isentitled tofree delivery, includingcaesareansection, inpublic health institutions along with provision of free transport, diagnostics, medicines,blood,other consumables& diet.● 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. ExtendedPMSMA(e-PMSMA) strategy was launched for individual tracking of high-risk pregnantwomen till a safe delivery. ● LaQshya improves the quality of care in labour room and maternity operation theatres to ensure that pregnant women receive respectful and quality care during deliveryandimmediate post-partum. ● Surakshit Matritva Aashwasan (SUMAN) aims to provide assured, dignified, respectful and quality healthcare at no cost and zero tolerance for denial of services for every woman andnewborn visiting the public health facilityto endall preventable maternalandnewborn deaths. ● OptimizingPostnatal Care aims tostrengthen the quality of postnatal care by laying emphasis on detection of danger signs in mothers andincentivizing Accredited Social HealthActivists (ASHAs) for prompt detection,referral & treatment of such high-risk postpartum mothers. ● Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Day (VHSND) is a monthly outreach activity at Anganwadi centers for provision of maternal and childcare including nutritioninconvergence with the ICDS. ● Outreach camps are provisioned to improve the reach of health care services, especially in tribal and hard-to-reach areas. This platform is used to increase awareness for Maternal andChild health services andcommunitymobilizationaswell astotrackhigh-risk pregnancies. ● 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 areastoimprove accesstohealthcare facilitiesandpromote institutional delivery. MMR data of caesareansection & normal deliveryisnot capturedseparatelyinthe data set of Registrar General of India. *****Annexure Annexurereferred to in replyto part(a) to (e)of Rajya SabhaUnstarred Q.No. 2829 to beanswered on17.03.2026 Maternal MortalityRatio S.No. India/States (SRS2021-23) India 88 1 Andhra Pradesh 30 2 Assam 110 3 Bihar 104 4 Jharkhand 54 5 Gujarat 51 6 Haryana 89 7 Karnataka 68 8 Kerala 30 9 Madhya Pradesh 142 10 Chhattisgarh 146 11 Maharashtra 36 12 Odisha 153 13 Punjab 90 14 Rajasthan 86 15 Tamil Nadu 35 16 Telangana 59 17 Uttar Pradesh 141 18 Uttarakhand 91 19 West Bengal 104 20 Other States 86 Source- SpecialBulletin onMaternal Mortality inIndia, 2021-23, Sample Registration System (SRS),RGI.