In a first, AP has hostel for pregnant women

Saluru (Vizianagaram): Pregnant tribal women living in the inaccessible villages on hill slopes could now breathe easy. A hostel set up by the ITDA in plains for their stay has come as a great relief for them.

Till recently, tribals used to carry pregnant women in dolis to the plains as there are no roads to their villages which, on many occasions, led to miscarriages and premature births posing a threat to the lives of mothers.

Taking a serious note of these incidents, the ITDA has come out with a novel idea to check such incidences. A hostel for pregnant women has been set up at community health centre at Saluru.

The purpose of this is to reduce the incidence of infant and maternal mortality rates (IMR and MMR) in the hill top tribal areas.At this hostel, pregnant women who are near their confinement are lodged with supervision on their condition.

The hostel serves nutritious food to them, besides teaching positive lifestyle practices like yoga with the staff of local Om Shanti Ashram. This is the first of its kind in AP to provide all amenities to poor pregnant women and help them give birth to their infants in better conditions. 

Women in their eighth or ninth month of pregnancy are admitted to the hostel. High risk mothers, those who live in inaccessible villages with no road transport facility are given preference.

Anganwadi teachers and ANMs are given the responsibility to bring all the eligible mothers to the hostel. They would identify the pregnant mothers and bring them to this hostel. 

So far, 32 women from hill top villages have been admitted to this hostel and 17 of them gave birth to children.  "The hostel is evoking good response from the tribals. The women admitted here are expressing happiness over the facilities here.

There is a necessity to scale up the facility to serve other tribal villages like GL Puram. Though we started it with the available funds from the ITDA, we need support from the government for continuing it. We are sending a proposal to the government," said Dr G Lakshmisha, PO, ITDA, Parvathipuram.

The health condition of the women admitted to the hostel is observed by the ICDS and medical staff. Scanning, checking of BP, and issues relating to personal hygiene are also monitored. They would be provided with nutritious food as per the diet menu.

They would be trained in yoga, go for walking for easier delivery. Pregnant women from Chintalavalasa, Gummidiguda, Simidivalasa, Boddapadu, Denkada Valasa and some more hilltop villages have been admitted to this hostel.  

P Lakshmi of Dippalapadu said: “I am very happy here. The staff are taking good care of me," she said. P Vasantha Bala, Project Officer of the ICDS, said: "We are working as per the directions given to us by the ITDA."