Bhopal: Increasing cases of infant mortality in Madhya Pradesh have forced the health department to begin a monthly Child Death Review (CDR).

Madhya Pradesh topped the country in infant mortality rate (IMR) for the 12th successive time with 52 deaths of children less than one year of age per 1,000 live births, according to a survey released by the central government in June.

With the help of Aadhaar cards, the reasons behind infant mortality and maternal mortality would be recorded to improvise facilities for child birth at district hospitals and primary and community health centres.

Under National Health Mission’s (NHM) birth registration system scheme, a unique identification number will be given to every child after birth, just like a birth certificate.

MP will be second state after Haryana to implement the scheme

Madhya Pradesh will be the second state after Haryana to implement the scheme.

According to mission director of NHM V Kiran Gopal, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIADI) had sent a proposal to the state health department after which NHM collaborated with MP Electronic Development Corporation to implement the scheme, The Hindustan Times reported.

“We are in the process of implementing this concept here and we will start our pilot project in Bhopal after one and a half month. The idea is to institutionalise the system of giving Aadhaar cards to infants so that we can keep a tab on infant mortality and maternal mortality in MP. This will help us improve public health facilities,” Gopal said.

Aadhaar card will also put an end to cases of abandoning children or swapping them.

According to health department officials, the Aadhaar card will not only help find out the reasons behind infant deaths but it might also put an end to cases of abandoning children or swapping them. They said the Aadhaar Id of newborns will be linked to the Aadhaar Id of their parents.

“If a mother or a father do not have an Aadhaar card at the time of birth, then we will ensure that they get the card made first so that we can link their unique number to their child’s Id,” said NHM mission director V Kiran Gopal.

After the district hospital in Bhopal, the project would be launched in all the district hospitals of the state.

The process will begin at the hospital itself where details like date of birth, sex and parents will be registered. Parents’ biometric data like finger prints and retina scan will also be taken.

A unique identification (UID) enrolment number will then be generated and sent to the mobile number of the parents. The birth registration certificate would also have the UID number along with the registration number.