44 Telangana hospitals get TIFA machines

Hyderabad: The Telangana state government on Saturday inducted 57 TIFA (Targeted Imaging for Fetal Anomalies) scanning machines in the 44 government hospitals with an expenditure of Rs 20 Crores on Saturday, which would not only decrease the financial burden of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 per scanning in the private hospitals but also is likely to benefit about 20,000 pregnant women in the state.

The Home Minister Md Mahmood Ali inaugurated the facility in the Petlaburj Maternity Hospital on Saturday, while Health Minister T Harish Rao took part in the event virtually. Speaking during the event, Harish Rao said that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had started the KCR Kit scheme at the same hospital on June of 2017, adding that starting a new service was always a great experience. These machines would be helpful in finding out issues in the fetus.

There are 155 ultrasound machines in the government hospitals and on an average every month 11,000 to 12,000 tests are carried out. However, the internal problems can be identified through TIFA machines. The radiologists and gynecologists have been given special training on these machines. On an average, around 20,000 women in the state undergo this test between the 18 to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Stating that the government was committed for the health of mother and child, the health minister said that before the formation of Telangana, the mother and child care centers were limited to a few district hospitals and medical colleges, but now all the government hospitals have such facilities.

The government has formed a three-pronged strategy that includes providing 102 Amma Vodi and ANC vehicles for providing transport facility to pregnant women before and after the pregnancy, delivery rooms, MCH centers, ICU and SNCU under pregnancy time service and post pregnancy services such as 102 vehicle, KCR Kits and child immunisation, said the minister.

Harish Rao said that the government removed the incentive which used to be given for C-section and now incentive of Rs 3,000 is given for normal delivery. There were 3.60 lakh deliveries in the state this year in government and private hospitals. During the last year till October, there were 61.41 per cent cesareans deliveries while this year it has been 54.49 per cent, during the same period showing a significant 7 per cent drop.

He said so far 12.66 lakh women have been benefitted from the KCR Kit for which the government had spent Rs 263 crore. So far, the government had spent a total of Rs 1,525 crore on KCR kits, he added. Md Mahamood Ali also addressed the programme in the Hospital.