Two hundred bed Shah Rukn-i- Alam Mother and Child Hospital being built with Rs 7 billion would not only benefit Multanites but also people of the region. An official source of health department told APP on Thursday that Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Hussain Qureshi, performed ground-breaking of the hospital in last week. He informed that the four storey hospital would have state-of-the -art facilities including operation theaters, ICU,gynae and pediatric wings, OPD, blood bank, pathology, radiology departments besides emergency ward. He stated that it would be centrally air conditioned adding that two basements would also be constructed for parking purposes. The health facility is spanning over 27 kanal and 18 marla piece of the land worth millions of rupees and was acquired from food dept, the source informed. Prime Minister, Imran Khan took keen interest for this project, the source said. He lamented that maternal deaths are divided into two categories. Direct maternal deaths refer to deaths resulting from obstetric complications during pregnancy, labour, or 42 days after delivery or the end of pregnancy. Indirect maternal deaths result from non-obstetric complications aggravated by pregnancy. The majority of maternal deaths (96pc) were direct maternal deaths, according to report published last year, he said adding that the commonest causes of death included obstetric haemorrhage (41pc) and hypertensive disorders (29pc). It merits mentioning here that the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is lowest in Punjab (157 per 100,000 live births), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (165 per 100,000 live births), Sindh (224 per 100,000 live births), and Balochistan (298 per 100,000 live births). The MMR is 104 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and 157 in Gilgit-Baltistan. The ratio is also 26pc higher in rural areas – 199 deaths – than urban areas – 158 deaths revealed Pakistan Maternal Mortality Survey (PMMS) conducted in 2020.