Congress slams NPP over 'poor' healthcare system, promises to empower women

The Congress in Meghalaya alleged that the ruling National Peoples Party NPP has failed to protect women and children with the state faring poorly on the infant and maternal mortality rate indexesAddressing a press meet in the pollbound state on Thursday AICC media coordinator Bobbeeta Sharma said that the NPP had in 2018 election manifesto promised to empower women in Meghalaya but data tells us another storyThe fifth round of the National Family and Health Survey NFHS5 201920 has exposed the condition of the healthcare system in the state Only 2637 of all children under the age of 12 months have received any immunisation she statedThe Maternal Mortality Rate stood at 197 per 100000 and the Infant Mortality Rate stands at 34 per 1000 live births she notedAlso Read BJP committed to development of Meghalaya Nagaland PM ModiThe NPP had claimed that institutional delivery in the state has gone up to 6437 but latest data from NFHS 5 shows that it stood at 5837 which is much lower than the national average of 88637 Sharma saidAbout 46537 of children are stunted height for age ration due to lack of nutrition NFHS5 The rates of teenage pregnancy are 7937 in the state which is higher than the national average of 6837 The state also has a high rate of child marriage at 16637 she underlinedThe Conrad Sangmaled government had announced that it would take steps to decrease the school dropout rate but the gross enrolment ratio in 201920 for Meghalaya suggests that the state features behind other northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur in the list Sharma saidLashing out at the ruling party the AICC leader stated that Meghalaya has also failed to curb crimes against womenThe NCRB data in 2021 shows the number of cases of crimes against women in Meghalaya is 685 much higher than other northeastern states she saidAsserting that her party was sensitive to the needs of women of Meghalaya Sharma said efforts will be made to find them all a meaningful source of income if the Congress comes to powerWe understand that the needs of women change across age groups We will work with women for their empowerment she saidSharma stated that the Congress is committed to providing free health care for all citizens and entrepreneurship training for womenThe Congress has always encouraged women in politics The party has had women MLAs cabinet ministers in Meghalaya besides a Rajya Sabha MPOur party acknowledges the importance of womens participation in the decisionmaking process We are fielding 10 women candidates in the assembly polls the youngest among them being 28 she addedElections are scheduled to be held in Meghalaya on February 27Votes will be counted on March 2This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever