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Janani-Shishu
Suraksha Karyakram
JSSK has been launched, to ensure that each and ever pregnant woman
and sick neonates upto one month gets timely
access to health care services free of cost and without any out of pocket expenses.
In June 2011, Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare, Government of
India launched the Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), a national
initiative which entitles all pregnant
women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery, including caesarean section.
The scheme emphasises
utmost importance on “Free Entitlements”.
The idea is to eliminate out-of-pocket expenses for both pregnant women and sick
neonates. Under this scheme, pregnant women are entitled for free drugs and consumables, free diagnostics, free blood wherever required, and
free diet to 3 days for normal delivery and 7 days for caesarian section. This initiative also
provides for free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back
home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick newborns accessing
public health institutions for treatment till 30 days after birth.
The JSSK initiative is
estimated to benefit more than one crore pregnant women and newborns who
access public health institutions every year in both urban and rural areas.
Why JSSK ?
India has made
considerable progress in reduction of Maternal Mortality Ratio MMR) and Infant mortality Rate (IMR), but the pace at
which these health indicators are declining needs acceleration. The number of
institutional deliveries has increased
significantly, after the launch of Janani
Suraksha Yojna (JSY) in the year 2005 but many of those who opted for
institutional deliveries were not willing to stay for 48 hrs, hampering the
provision of essential services both to the mother and neonate. Moreover, the
first 48 hours after delivery are critical as complications like haemorrhage, infection,
high blood pressure, etc are more likely to develop during this period and unsafe
deliveries may result in maternal and infant morbidity or mortality.
