Every day for the past two months, a small team at the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has been spending hours on the phone tracking pregnant women across the city. They check whether an expectant mother has attended her last antenatal visit, remind her about the next one, record her blood pressure and blood sugar, weight gain or loss, haemoglobin levels, and ensure every prescribed test has been completed.The system, introduced by city health officer Dr V C Subash Gandhi, who recently took charge, is part of a surveillance and follow-up mechanism that health officials believe will help push down maternal and infant mortality rates to near zero.While Tamil Nadu continues to show improvement in maternal and infant mortality rates, Coimbatore district has shown one of the fastest rates of decline. The maternal mortality rate (MMR) for 2025–2026 stands at 20, with an equal split of 10 in rural areas and 10 within corporation limits, an improvement from 2024–2025, when it was 36.Similarly, the infant mortality rate (IMR) has also declined in Coimbatore district, reaching 4.8 per 1,000 live births, down from 5.5 in the previous year. Within the CCMC area, IMR is even lower at 3.9 per 1,000 live births for 2025-2026. Other western districts, especially Namakkal and Dharmapuri, are far behind in these rates. In 2025-2026, the IMR in Namakkal is 11.8, and the MMR is 31. In Dharmapuri, the IMR is 13.4, and the MMR is 36.“It takes consistent effort to bring down the rates,” says Dr Gandhi. “At the centre, over the past two months, we have been making about 40 calls a day. We have antenatal care every Tuesday, and we have a nurse on duty at the exit to confirm that all tests and checks have been done.”The monitoring does not end with childbirth. Health workers continue to follow mothers for 42 days after delivery, a period that officials say remains critical but tends to be overlooked.“Three of the 10 maternal deaths recorded this year occurred 15 to 17 days after delivery,” says Dr Gandhi. “Postpartum care is equally important. If any required test is incomplete, it shows up as red on the daily monitoring sheet, the nurse at the UPHC will be held responsible.”To strengthen coordination with private hospitals and enable faster intervention during emergencies, a 24/7 helpline number has been affixed to the medical records of expectant mothers and shared with private healthcare facilities across the district, says Dr Gandhi.In rural areas too, monitoring has been strengthened. “We have increased awareness efforts and improved monitoring at the primary-care level in rural areas to identify risks early and prevent last-minute emergencies,” says P Balusamy, deputy director of health services.
