Almost 1,600 lives have been lost to Covid-19 in Meghalaya but beyond, yet related, to that figure is the tragically sad toll of newborn babies, 877 of whom along with 61 mothers died due to fears among pregnant women of contracting the coronavirus.
These last two figures were highlighted in a report the Meghalaya government prepared for the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The NHRC had registered a case over the exceptionally high number of newborn and maternal deaths in Meghalaya during the Covid pandemic.
“The causes of the newborn deaths had been looked into and it was found that the fatalities were due to the lack of medical attention and care because pregnant women refused to get themselves admitted to the health institutions due to fear and stigma of contracting Covid-19 and also the refusal to test for Covid-19,” the report said.
At the height of the Covid pandemic in the state, it was made mandatory for Covid-positive and negative patients to be separated in hospital wards.
Apart from the pandemic, the other factors in the high number of deaths included “the underlying and often unaddressed socio-economic and gender dimensions,” the report stated.
Pregnant women are more susceptible to serious illness and even death from Covid and this may have put women off from visiting health centres even though, the government said, ASHA workers and other healthcare workers regularly monitored their health through home visits and urged them to choose institutional delivery.
High-risk pregnant women were tracked and none of them were allowed to deliver at home, the report said. Districts were told to ensure 100 percent antenatal registration for early treatment and prevention of maternal mortality.
