In spite of the government of India’s scheme for free delivery in all government hospitals, patients in the Government Medical College and Hospital have to bear additional cost in some complicated cases during pregnancy.

In the Government Medical College and Hospital, sector 32 in Chandigarh a patient had to undergo delivery and her husband Shahid was asked to arrange platelets due to her low count. He needed a special kit costing 7, 500 INR which he could not afford. This incident becomes noticeable in view of the fact that under the Janani Shishu Surakhsha Yojana, all deliveries in the district hospitals are free.

The objective of the Janani Suraksha Yojana was to encourage institutionalized deliveries due to mortality rate of 56, 000 every year during child birth. The PGI recently announced that besides free deliveries, they would not charge for the treatment of babies up to the age of one year. The PGI is a tertiary care center and was not under the scheme.

Dr Alka Sehgal, head of the gynecology department, GMCH stated that, “I had taken this up some time ago with the administration to provide such kits free for pregnant mothers. But I am not aware what happened thereafter.”

There are around 450 complicated deliveries every month in the hospital; also under the Janani Shishu Surakhsha Yojana Programme, pregnant women are entitled to free and cashless delivery, free C-section, free drugs and consumables, free diagnostics, free diet during stay in the health institutions, free provision of blood, exemption from user charges, free transport from home to health institutions.

But, there is a flip side to this situation too. The institutional delivery has limited the resources of the government hospitals. Such policies cannot be implemented with hospitals where there is lack of basic facilities such as beds and infrastructure.