The Provincial Health Directorate of Sudurpaschim has started installing tele-ultrasound system at the health institution of each local unit in a bid to control the alarming child and maternal mortality rates.

The directorate planned to distribute an ultrasound machine to a health post in each local body in the province. According to the health officials, the ultrasound machine with the tele-medicine facility will be very helpful in detecting abnormalities in foetus and that of pregnant women.

There are a total of 88 local units in the province.

“The health worker in the health post can consult with specialist doctors through tele-ultrasound system if they have health complications. It will help in bringing down the child and maternal mortality,” said Dr Gunaraj Awasthi, director at the Provincial Health Directorate. He claimed that Sudurpaschim is the first federal unit in the country to install such tele-ultrasound system in each local unit.

In the first phase, the directorate distributed the ultrasound machine to health posts in nine districts of the province on Thursday. The directorate handed over the machines to Bhimdutta Municipality of Kanchanpur, Dhangadhi Municipality of Kailali, Dipayal Silgadhi Municipality of Doti, Mangalsen Municipality of Achham, Madimalika Municipality of Bajura, Jayaprithvi Municipality of Bajhang, Amargadhi Municipality of Dadeldhura, Dasharathchand Municipality of Baitadi and Mahakali Municipality of Darchula.

“We will soon hand over the machine to the remaining health posts of all the local bodies in the second phase,” said Awasthi.

The child and maternal mortality rates are still high, mainly in the remote villages in the district. Only the district hospitals have the ultrasound machine at present. As a result, medics have been facing difficulties in the treatment of various health complications during pregnancy.

A total of 280 children died across Sudurpaschim Province in the fiscal year 2017/18 and 290 in the last fiscal year of 2018/19. Achham has the worst record of child mortality rate in the region, with as many as 76 deaths in 2018/19.

The federal government had provided a special grant to Sudurpaschim in the last fiscal year to improve child and maternal mortality rates. Narendra Singh Karki, chief at the health division of the provincial Ministry of Social Development, said a federal grant amounting to Rs123.2 million had been used to purchase the ultrasound machines.

The health workers expect the ultrasound machines to be helpful in the treatment of pregnant women in the villages. “With the ultrasound machine in place, the locals patients in the remote villages will get proper treatment,” said Bhanubhakta Joshi, a health official in Bajhang district.

However, the health posts do not have trained hands to operate the ultrasound machine. The health directorate plans to provide a 21-day training to staff nurses or other health workers to operate the machine. “We will start training from mid-January at Bhery Hospital,” said Dr Awasthi.