More than 1,000 women gave birth in the State on the Mother’s Day on Sunday, and all of them were healthy and doing well, officials of the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) Department said.
“Anganwadi workers and helpers, along with ward volunteers, Mahila Samrakshana staff, ASHA workers, ANMs, ICDS, and ICPS staff attended to more than 90% of the deliveries in this hour of COVID-19 crisis. I appreciate all the anganwadi staff members for helping the women have a safe delivery,” Krithika Shukla, WD&CW Director, said, and extended her greetings to the mothers on the special occasion.
“Despite imposition of lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the anganwadi workers made door-to-door visits, supplied nutritious food to the pregnant women, and helped them have a safe delivery,” she said.
Deliveries during lockdown
While this is so, 75,000 deliveries have been registered in the State during the 47-day lockdown period. The mothers and their newborn babies are all safe.
“As many as 80,000 pregnant women were expected to give birth between March 23 and May 10 in the State, and 95% of them delivered babies as per the due dates given by the doctors. The anganwadi workers and helpers kept the medicines and kits needed ready in advance to assist the pregnant women during the lockdown,” said ICDS Joint Director R. Shiva Parvathi.
Significantly, hundreds of migrant women who were in shelter homes delivered babies. The WD&CW staff and anganwadi workers helped them have a safe delivery.
“There are 55,607 Anganwadi Centres in the State, 6,800 of them in the Agency areas. In all, 53,799 anganwadi workers are extending their services to lakhs of pregnant and lactating women, and children (below 0-6 years),” Ms. Krithika Shukla said.
Nutritious diet
The anganwadi staff conducted awareness programmes on the immunisation schedule and child feeding practices, besides distributing nutritious food under the Poshan Abhiyaan and the Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), Ms. Parvathi said.
“Durga of Kaltunuru village in V.R. Puram mandal in the Agency area delivered a baby on April 3. Her family members thanked me for helping her have a safe delivery,” said G. Santha Kumari, an anganwadi worker.
“At a time when private hospitals and maternity homes are closed due to the pandemic, anganwadi worker P. Bhagya Lakshmi came as a goddess, and helped me have a safe delivery,” said G. Naga Malleswari of Guntupalli village in Krishna district.
