Delayed for 5 years, incentive for pregnant women to be given soon

₹18,000 financial aid funded by both state and centre, nutrition kit for moms part of scheme

- R KIRUBAKARAN @Coimbatore

INCENTIVE for pregnant women, which has been pending since 2019, will be released soon by the health and family welfare department through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode. For this, officials of maternal and child health wing, which comes under the department, are collecting details of Aadhaar-linked bank account from women who have given birth in the last five years.

To encourage institutional delivery and reduce maternal mortality rate, a pregnant woman who is registered under the Pregnancy and Infant Cohort Monitoring and Evaluation (PICME) programme is given ₹18,000 under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) and the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme (MRMBS). Women who give birth in government and private hospitals are eligible to receive it.