XLRI meet raises mortality alarm

Jamshedpur, June 29 (The Telegraph): Maternal mortality rate in the state: 370 per 1 lakh.

Maternal mortality rate in the country: 250 per 1 lakh.

These startling figures came to the fore at the ongoing leadership training programme for medical officers at XLRI today.

The programme on reproductive health also threw up an infant mortality rate shocker. The current rate in the state is 48 per 1,000.

With an aim to bring down the figures, the B-school is conducting the event that will help officers at government health departments and NGOs to increase their managerial efficiency.

“The government departments often complain of non-availability of resources. We are teaching the officers how to increase managerial efficiency amid lack of resources,” said Vishwa Ballabh, the co-ordinator of the programme.

After the training, civil surgeons and medical officers will also find out ways to control maternity and infant mortality rates in the state.

The 10-day training event, which was inaugurated on June 22, is focussed on capacity and leadership building among the participants. Around 21 officers from three districts — Bokaro, Lohardaga and Dumka — of the state and Kishanganj, Nalanda and Gaya in Bihar are being trained to identify the areas where they can bring about a change. The places were selected based on the reproductive health (RH) indicator.

“Doctors also need to be cautious. They need to know their areas of work and bring about a change, if required. The training will help them do so,” added Ballabh.

Officers attending the training also feel that they are more confident and can manage things better than before. “It will help me and my team to use our resources to the optimum level. I will now motivate them to achieve our goals. I now know how to increase our efficiency,” said Pramod Kumar, the civil surgeon from Bokaro, who participated at the programme.

“We got to know more about management and will work on our shortcomings to bring about positive results,” said D.N. Pandey, the additional director of health, Jharkhand.