As many as 877 newborn children and 61 mothers died after pregnant women refused deliveries at health facilities due to fears of contracting the Covid-19 infection, the Meghalaya government has told the National Human Rights Commission.
The state government made the submission in a report dated March 20 after the human rights body registered a case over the high numbers of maternal and newborn deaths in Meghalaya during the pandemic.
On November 1, the National Human Rights Commission had asked the Meghalaya government to submit an action report listing out the steps it had taken in the matter.
“The causes for the newborn deaths had been looked into,” the state government told the commission. “It was found that the newborn deaths were due to lack of medical attention and care, because the pregnant women refused to get admitted in the health institution due to fear and stigma of contracting Covid-19 and also the refusal to test for Covid-19.”
The state government told the commission that necessary steps had been taken to spread awareness among pregnant women and their families on the importance of deliveries at health facilities.
The government said that after noting the high number of deaths, it had also launched a “rescue mission” and directed health teams to identify all pregnant women and register them on a mobile application to prevent such fatalities.
“All high-risk pregnant women should be identified and brought to a health facility two weeks before the expected date of delivery,” the state government had told the teams, it said in the report.
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