Battling Infant, Neonatal & Maternal Mortality Rates Across North Punjab

To meet the demands of future development, the Infrastructure Development Authority of the Punjab (IDAP) has been actively engaged since 2016 in the planning, designing, building and maintenance of infrastructure in the province following the best practices around the world.

An adequate healthcare system in a country is essential for the betterment of its people. However, Pakistan unfortunately lacks modern healthcare facilities for postnatal, antenatal and neonatal care due to which the infant and maternal mortality rates are quite high. The infant mortality rate is 54 deaths per 1000 live births[Ma1]  and the maternal mortality rate is 140 deaths per 100,000 live births[Ma2] .

According to the Pakistan Health and Demographic Survey 2017-18, 6000 mothers lose their lives because of complications during their pregnancies, not only this but the mortality rate in Punjab is about 50[Ma3] %.

Recently, IDAP has been working on multiple healthcare infrastructure projects across Punjab. The Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department has administered IDAP to transform healthcare in Punjab by establishing and developing five mother & child hospitals across the province. These hospitals are being constructed in Mianwali, Attock, Rajanpur, Layyah and Bahawalnagar.

IDAP is constructing a 200 Bedded Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) and Nursing College in the district of Mianwali. MCH, Mianwali will aide in decreasing the infant and maternal mortality rates in the region and in improving the overall health standards of the people of North Punjab. It will also assist in providing quality healthcare services to mothers and children across the district and the facility to undergo surgical procedures.

Following Facilities will be available at Mother and Child Hospital, Mianwali:

The hospital building has a covered area of 260,000 square feet and would consist of a Gynae and obstetrics block along with a Peads ward. The Gynae and obstetrics block will comprise of:

• Gynae Emergency (20 Beds)
• Labor Room (20 Beds)
• Antenatal Ward (20 Beds)
• Postnatal Ward (20 Beds)
• HDU (10 Beds)
• ICU (5 Beds)
• Gynae Ward (20 Beds)
• KMC (5 Beds)
• Indoor/Day Care Room/Anemia Treatment Room

The Peads block contains:

• Emergency (Pead’s & Neonatal) (10 Beds)
• Pead’s Indoor (24 Beds)
• Nursery/Neonatology (20 Beds)
• Pead’s ICU (6 Beds)
• Neonatal HDU/ICU (20 Beds)

Mother & Child Hospital, Mianwali, will also consist of a Pharmacy, Clinical Pathology Unit, Laboratory, Blood Bank and Radiology Unit. The hospital will have a team of competent doctors, nurses, technicians and consultants. In addition, Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and HIMS will be put into effect. Not only this but record keeping, patient registration, E-prescription, the use of IT support for EMR will also be put into action. 

 Mother & Child Hospital, Mianwali, is expected to be completed in the year 2022 and it hopes to bring about a change for the better by treating more than 1.546 million people in Mianwali district. With the help of the hospital, the infant mortality will reduce to 8%, morbidity to 7%, maternal mortality to 8% and neonatal to 10%.

            The construction of this hospital will be equally important for the economy as it would create several job opportunities that would elevate the standard of living of the people of North Punjab.