T.N.’s maternal healthcare indicators have improved in post-COVID-19 period, finds IIT-M study

Key points

• A study by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has found that Tamil Nadu’s emergency medical services and maternal healthcare system has showed significant improvement in the post-COVID-19 period, with reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality and better ambulance response efficiency.
• The study, published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, analysed ambulance registry data from the State’s 108 emergency response system from 2017 to 2024. The research was led by P.
• Kandaswamy, a retired IPS Officer, who is currently a professor of practice in the Departments of Management Studies and Data Science and AI, IIT-M, along with Ashwin Prakash, Moody’s Analytics Private Limited, Bengaluru.
• According to the study, maternal mortality declined by 19% during the resilient recovery phase of 2023-24, reaching 37 deaths per 100,000 live births, substantially lower than the national average.
• Neonatal mortality dropped by 17%, infant mortality by 19%, miscarriages by 28%, and home deliveries by...