Mayor Priya inaugurates Help desk for high-risk pregnant women at GCC’s health centres
A welfare assistance centre to monitor and assist these women was announced in the city corporation’s budget 2024-25.
Staff answering calls and updating relevant details
CHENNAI: Mayor R Priya inaugurated the ‘High Risk Pregnant Women Help Desk’ to provide counselling and guidance to those who have severe health issues during pregnancy. By monitoring them while pregnant will reduce maternal and infant mortality rates, it will also ensure delivery of healthy babies.
A welfare assistance centre to monitor and assist these women was announced in the city corporation’s budget 2024-25. Based on this, a ‘High Risk Pregnant Women Help Desk’ was inaugurated to provide counselling and advice at the GCC’s health centres.
As many as 700-800 deliveries are performed every month at Corporation hospitals. At least 30% are considered high-risk or at significant risk, noted a release from the Ripon Building.
A total of 54,678 pregnant women are registered at the GCC’s health centres. Among them, 11,765 women fall under the high-risk category. When these women contact the assistance centre, their details will be communicated to the concerned urban health nurses and auxiliary medical nurses, who will then reach out to them via phone to explain necessary tests, treatments, and procedures.
The nurses will ensure they receive the appropriate care and continue to monitor them. Moreover, they will be guided to deliver at specialised hospitals. Both the mother and baby will be closely monitored during the pregnancy phase and postpartum period. As many as 786 nurses, including 486 urban health centre nurses and 300 nursing assistants, will be available to guide the high risk pregnant patients in the city.
Through this initiative, various health issues will be addressed for pregnant women including nutritional guidance, diseases, complications, and treatment methods, especially for high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, heart disease, seizures, anaemia, asthma. Additionally, the list of high-priority pregnant women from each region will be downloaded via the Picme website, and they will be continuously monitored through phone calls.
If any complications arise with the pregnant women, the relevant city health nurse will be notified immediately to take further actions and provide appropriate treatment.