States » EastPosted at: Jun 19 2025 8:03PM


Assam improves maternal mortality ratio, infant mortality rate: CM

Guwahati, June 19 (UNI) Assam has made significant strides towards reducing the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and the Under 5 Mortality Rate.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said this on Thursday, adding that in the recent reports of the Sample Registration System (SRS) published by the Office of the Registrar General of India the MMR of Assam has come down to 125.
He said that historically, Assam recorded the highest Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in the country till the last SRS report of 2018-20. In 2001-03, the MMR in Assam was 490 per one lakh live births. At that time, the national MMR was 301.
“The maternal health conditions were poor and the health infrastructure in the state was unable to provide necessary support to our mothers. In the last two decades, tremendous efforts have been undertaken, especially in the last 10 years, for which, significant improvement has been observed in reduction of maternal mortality,” the Chief Minister said, adding that with the whole-hearted efforts of Government of Assam in the last 20 years, the MMR has improved to 125 in 2020-22 from 490 in 2001-03.
He said that the Special Bulletin on Maternal Mortality in India 2020-22 was released in the month of June 2025. “As per SRS 2020-22, MMR of Assam has come down to 125 with a further 42 points (25.1%) drop in MMR compared to 2019-21. This shows 70 points (36%) drop in MMR in just two years. No other state in the Country has shown such decline,” he said, adding that Assam’s MMR is now better than Madhya Pradesh (159), Chhattisgarh (141), Uttar Pradesh (141) and Odisha (136) as per SRS 2020-22.
“It is a great achievement for the State of Assam to bring such a great reduction of MMR even during the period of COVID pandemic,” he said.
The Chief Minister further added that it is not just MMR, but Infant Mortality rate also has improved tremendously. “The IMR in 2005 in Assam was 68, way above the national IMR of 58, being one of the last states in the country. The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of Assam improved to 36 as per SRS (2020). It has come down to 34 as per SRS (2021) and further down to 32 as per SRS (2022),” he said, adding that in terms of IMR, Assam’s performance is at par with Orissa (32) and better than Uttar Pradesh (38), Chhattisgarh (38) and Madhya Pradesh (40).
“From 68 in 2005, we have improved to 32 by 2020-22, almost reducing IMR to 1/3rd,” he said, adding that the Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) was as high as 88 per 1,000 live births in 2008. This has also come down from 40 (SRS 2020) to 37 (SRS 2021) and further down to 35 (SRS 2022), almost reducing to 1/3rd,” Sarma said.
“Similarly, our neonatal mortality rate also has improved from 33 per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 22 in 2020-22,” he said adding that improvement in health infrastructure, improvement in health Human Resources (HR), Motivated and incentivised ASHA(s) and grassroots workers, improved health service delivery and the social support programmes contributed towards this achievement.
He said that the number of medical colleges in Assam has increased to 13. “All of them are functioning as Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (CEmONC) Centre. Functionalisation of First Referral Unit (FRU) increased to 84. More FRUs will be made functional in coming months,” he said, adding that now all 35 districts have at least one CEmONC centre to facilitate C-Section delivery.
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