Guwahati: Dibrugarh recorded zero home deliveries among 21,895 births in 2025-26 and all 5,848 births reported between April and July 2026, highlighting strengthened access to institutional care in rural areas.The tea-garden-dominated district has achieved 100% institutional delivery for the second consecutive year, despite its dispersed population and geographical and access challenges.The achievement followed a coordinated strategy to strengthen tea garden hospitals and other delivery points, conduct intensive information, education and communication campaigns, counsel and incentivise pregnant women through various schemes and ensure 100% registration and tracking of pregnancies.Continuous follow-up and high-risk pregnancy management by grassroots health workers, skilled manpower at delivery points, the services of doctors, nurses and other health personnel, and referral transport through 108 ambulances and patient transport vehicles helped provide last-mile connectivity across the district, officials said.“With far-sighted planning, sustained efforts and an unwavering commitment to service, the department not only achieved 100% institutional delivery by ensuring zero home deliveries during the entire FY 2025-26 but also successfully sustained the same standard in the current FY 2026-27. From Apr to July 2026, all 5,848 reported deliveries were conducted in health institutions,” said a health department official.The official said the achievement was significant given Dibrugarh’s large tea garden network and geographically dispersed population. Institutional delivery moved beyond a departmental target to become a community-driven norm, the official added.The district recorded 23,252 institutional deliveries in 2020-21, 21,662 in 2021-22, 22,600 in 2022-23, 21,599 in 2023-24, 22,338 in 2024-25 and 21,895 in 2025-26. In all, 1,33,346 mothers received institutional delivery care over the six years, an annual average of more than 21,000.“The 5,848 deliveries recorded between Apr and July 2026 represent an increase of 469 deliveries compared to 5,379 in the same period last year, registering a growth of 8.72%,” said the official.“This 100% institutional delivery rate, in continuation of the Zero Home Delivery status of FY 2025-26, establishes that institutional delivery has transformed from a supply-based service to a demand-based culture in the district,” the official added.
