KARACHI: The Health Research Advisory Board (HealthRab) and Society of Gynae Obs and Gynaecology Pakistan (SOGP) have jointly established country’s first Maternal Mortality Rate Registry to collect credible data on mother and infant mortality in the country. In this connection a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between HealthRab and SOGP at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) Karachi on Sunday. The MoU was signed by head of SOGP and senior Gynecologist Dr. Sadiqa Jaffri and General Secretary of HealthRab, Dr. Zakiuddin. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Sadiqa Jaffri said that in the past, governments used to hide the maternal deaths and infant mortality but now the registry would keep track of this important happening in the entire country. “The Maternal Morality Rate Registry would not only collect maternal and infant deaths in the country but would also keep track of cesarean sections, normal births, complications during child births and other statistics relating to MMR and population growth in the country,” Dr Sadiqa noted. She claimed that maternal morality could be reduced up to 30 percent just by following family planning practices, saying growing population was a serious and alarming issue, which needs to be addressed with the implementation of modern healthcare interventions. Speakers said maternal mortality as well as infant morality is highest in Pakistan as compared to other developing countries in the world but there is no credible data available with any government agency or private institution either at federal or provincial levels. Senior Gynecologist Dr. Sherhshah Syed held small private hospitals and maternity homes responsible for growing maternal deaths during child birth and said they shift their complicated cases to public hospitals at the last moments, increasing the burden of tertiary care hospitals beyond their capacity. “After every 30 minutes, one woman dies in Pakistan during childbirth which is an alarming situation as maternal mortality is quite less in neighboring countries like India and Bangladesh,” Dr Syed claimed. Dr. Nusrat Shah from CHK held health departments and governments responsible for growing maternal deaths in Pakistan and said had there been better health facilities in the country, maternal deaths would be have been very low in Pakistan. Other experts also termed the creation of MMR Registry as welcoming step and hoped that it would help planners and healthcare managers in saving lives, lowering disease burden on healthcare sector and managing growing population in countries like Pakistan where facilities are limited for millions of people.