Maternal Deaths and Denial of Maternal Care in Barwani District, Madhya Pradesh: Issues and Concerns

There have been reports of a large number of maternal deaths in recent months from Barwani, Madhya Pradesh with many of the deaths taking place in the District Hospital (DH), Barwani. This issue was initially raised by the local grassroots organisation Jagrit Adivasi Dalit Sangathan (JADS) and SATHI Cehat, Pune through several protests. Initial reports by the Sangathan pointed to large-scale systemic factors as contributing to these deaths. In order to understand this issue better and to investigate these maternal deaths, a team of medical doctors and women’s health activists undertook a visit to the area on behalf of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, CommonHealth and Sama to investigate the cause of death and systemic factors contributing to these deaths in a sample of the maternal deaths reported and to suggest systemic improvements to prevent such maternal deaths in future. www.phm-india.org