The Tamil Nadu government has unveiled another welfare scheme that will take effect from the beginning of the new fiscal year and see every infant born in a government hospital across the state getting a one gram gold ring. The scheme’s primary objective is to encourage institutional deliveries and provide financial and emotional assistance to parents giving birth to new babies.
The State government allocated Rs 755.83 crore to put this programme into action. The project is expected to save thousands of families from poverty annually and at the same time enhancing the accessibility of the public healthcare system by bringing a preference on delivery in public health institutions, officials said.
The gold ring will be given to every government hospital birth, and is among the state’s singular welfare initiatives for mother and child health care. The government feels that the scheme will bring about better institutional delivery rate and give an extra boost to the confidence in public healthcare institutions.
Tamil Nadu has always been known as having a robust public health system and several welfare initiatives have been put in place to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity rates, including infant deaths. The move comes on the heels of other steps undertaken by the state to offer quality health care and incentives to families taking benefit from the government hospitals.
The decision makers are awaiting to announce the operational guidelines in detail related to the distribution process, eligibility criteria and time period which is expected to take place in the coming weeks. Health Department authorities will monitor the implementation of the scheme to make it smooth and transparent to provide benefits.
The announcement has caught the limelight for its innovative intervention efforts for supporting newborns and their families, as well as encouraging the adoption of safe childbirths in government healthcare institutions across Tamil Nadu.