State government wins prestigious SKOCH Health Award for making ‘waiting huts’ for pregnant women

Another feather on West Bengal Government’s cap. Bengal’s Health and Family welfare department has won the Skoch Award in the Governance Gold category for its project on ‘Waiting Huts for Pregnant Women.’ The honour was conferred on August 29 in New Delhi. Previously the state government had also won the Skill Gold Award for their project Utkarsh Bangla. 

Waiting Huts project include delivery institutional and medical facilities in far fling rural areas o Bengal to provide proper and hygienic delivery options to pregnant mothers. It also watches over the dietary needs of the women. The project has been successfully run by the Bengal government in the remote rural areas of Sunderbans like Gosaba, Sandeshkhali and others, where the mortality rate of mothers has drastically been reduced, thanks to this concept of institutional delivery. Each waiting hut is provided with doctors round the clock to ensure a pregnant woman can deliver under the supervision of doctors. These women come from far flung places and taking them to health centres or hospitals need hours of road transport. Hence these Waiting Huts are acting as a blessing to the rural women.