Janani Express Yojana: health referral transport service in Madhya Pradesh

The Janani Express Yojana is providing emergency transportation facility to expectant mothers, sick infants and BPL families in rural Madhya Pradesh so as to enable them to avail adequate healthcare facilities on time.

The infant and maternal mortality rate in Madhya Pradesh (M.P) has been amongst the highest in the country and as a result, schemes like the Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) for promoting safe deliveries are of utmost importance.

For JSY to produce results, it is accompanied by various supporting factors, such as an adequate referral transport service to help pregnant women reach medical facilities on time. Recognizing the importance of such a transport service, the Government of Madhya Pradesh launched the Janani Express Yojana (JEY).

Under JEY, pregnant women , sick infants and Below Poverty Line (BPL) families can call and request for a vehicle to take them to the hospital where there is an emergency and drop them home after treatment. These requests are forwarded to ambulances that are stationed at government hospitals, community health centers (CHCs) and primary health centres (PHCs). This ensures that patients are transported to the nearest medical facility on time.

Operational since 2006, JEY has significantly increased the rate of delivery in M.P. A primary reason for JEY’s success is an online monitoring software that stores all the details of beneficiaries like name, address, village, time of call, etc. The maintenance of such a robust database makes drivers and call centre operators perform their responsibilities efficiently. This software also ensures that periodic reports can be sent to higher officials for review. The next stage is to converted the offline software into a real time online system which will facilitate regular monitoring by district and state officials.

This case study was published in May 2012.

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