A local unit in a remote part of Makwanpur district has developed a mobile application that will provide maternity services to pregnant women and postpartum mothers.

As part of its safe motherhood programme, Kailash Rural Municipality of Makwanpur has already started providing maternity services. The rural municipality has distributed mobile phones to five health posts.

Through the app, the staff at each health post will get information of pregnant women and postpartum mothers of their area. The app will send notifications as per the updated details of patients to health workers and the workers will then provide necessary advice and care to postpartum mothers and pregnant women on the basis of those notifications, said Tanka Bahadur Moktan, Chairman at the rural municipality.  

“We are trying to make the lives of people easier by connecting health posts with technology,” Moktan said. “We are working actively to provide services to people by using technology even in remote villages.”

The rural municipality has also announced that it will provide Rs 500 as encouragement allowance to a health worker who helps a pregnant woman give birth in the health post. “We took this decision to encourage health workers who will actively work to provide delivery service in the health posts,” said deputy chief of the rural municipality Sukmaya Thing. She hopes that the number of women giving birth in the health post will increase, like in surrounding areas like Bharta, Kalikatar, Namtar, Gogane and Dandakharka.

The people’s representatives estimated that around 425 women get pregnant in the rural municipality in a year. However, only around 25 percent of them visit a health post for safe delivery, said Shyam Sundar Mahato, chief of the health unit in the rural municipality.

According to the data of the first four months of the current fiscal year, 91 women have given birth so far. Among them only 31 gave birth in birthing centres.