Metropolis and Merrygold Health Network to provide Maternal and Child Health Care in UP

Metropolis Health Services will now provide quality testing services to patients of Merrygold Health Network in Uttar Pradesh. UP has the one of highest maternal mortality ratio of 517 per 1, 00,000 live births (SRS 2005- 2006) and Infant Mortality rate of 71 per 1000 live births (SRS 2007). The main cause of this situation is poor antenatal care (44% received ante natal care) and low coverage of institutional delivery (22%) in the State (source: NFHS III).

HLFPPT has committed to develop the Merrygold Health Network with support of Govt. of UP and SIFPSA (State Innovations in Family Planning Services Project Agency) in the entire State. The Merrygold Health Network is an example of public private partnership working on the principles of franchising for development of network across all 70 districts of Uttar Pradesh. The project will support the Government of UP’s and GOI ‘s efforts in reducing maternal, new born and infant deaths by increasing antenatal care, institutional deliveries and new born care, post natal and family planning services to women in rural and semi urban population.

In the first phase of the project, Metropolis will open one Lab in HLFPPT-owned Hospital and the other lab will be commissioned in a Franchised Hospital. The first Metropolis Laboratory has been commissioned in HLFPPT-owned Merrygold Hospital, Agra. Samples of patients requiring specialized testing will be sent to the referral laboratories of Metropolis Health Services Laboratory through their own effective and efficient systems. The patients will see the reports on the website or can collect the reports from Merrygold hospital.

Speaking on this new partnership, Dr. Velu, Managing Director, Metropolis Health Services said, “It is our privilege to partner with HLFPPT; we are looking forward to provide the best of services and technologies to the under served. The main objective of this partnership is to create a sustainable public private partnership in health care for the lower middle class and the underserved population. Merrygold health network will create grass-root level networking to provide quality reproductive and child health services at subsidized cost per fixed prices. We will follow the same quality standards to ensure consistency in care. Through this set up we wish to establish our network across the state and offer a comprehensive range of quality tests and latest technology to everyone.”

Elaborating on the project, Dr Vasanthi Krishnan, CEO, Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust, said, “The network of franchised hospitals and health clinics will be developed under the name of ‘Merrygold Network’ and each level has been branded with specific name and will provide different level of quality health care . At district level these hospitals/ health clinics will be named as Merrygold and will provide maternal child health services including emergency obstetrics facility. Block /sub divisional hospitals /clinics named Merry silver will provide essential obstetric care, family planning services, and immunization services. These hospitals/clinics are linked with district Merrygold network to refer complicated cases from these centers. Village level network named as Merry Tarang will provide health counseling, condoms, oral contraceptives, sanitary napkins, oral rehydration salts and Folic Acid Tablets to community.”

At present, HLFPPT has established their network in 18 district level Merrygold hospitals and 64 Merrysilver hospitals/health clinics in 11 districts i.e. Agra, Kanpur, Badaun, Lucknow, Barabanki, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Mathura Bareilly & Azamgargh. Similarly 1350 members like ASHA, AWW, chemist, community leaders have been associated with Merry Tarang health network. All franchises will follow the same quality standards to ensure consistency in care. The hospitals that are part of the franchising network will provide the same set of services, have a similar look, and follow the same branding for easy identifiable. In next two years, franchised hospitals/clinics will be operationalized in more districts in the state of UP.

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About Metropolis Health services (I) Ltd.

Metropolis Health Services (I) Ltd. was founded by Dr. Sushil Shah in 1981. India’s first corporate diagnostic centers chain with global presence like Srilanka, UAE, South Africa, USA and Thailand. Metropolis provides over 3600 specialized tests under a single roof ranging from oncology to genetics, molecular biology and immunoassays using best-of-breed and latest diagnostic equipment. Metropolis is a preferred referral center for more than 20,000 laboratories, clinicians, hospitals and research institutions across the nation. The CAP, CLIA (USA), NABL accredited and ISO 9002 certified Metropolis chain of laboratories has over 350 franchisees and is a preferred partner for providing quality testing to over 10,000-referral network across the country. Services include Clinical Laboratory Medicine, Radiology & Imaging Services, Hospital Laboratory Management, Central Laboratory Services for Clinical Trials, Site Management Services, Home Health Services, Preventive Health Check ups and Remote Pathology Testing Services.

About Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust:

Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT) is a charitable trust registered under the Travancore Cochin Charitable Trust Act. Ever since its inception by Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL) a Government of India undertaking in 1992, HLFPPT continues to integrate and expand its contribution towards achievement of national health and population development goals. HLFPPT is committed to make a marked difference for communities in addressing their health challenges and vulnerabilities. It has been working with Govt. of India and various state Govt., implementing programmes that reach more then 400 million people. HLFPPT programmes are also funded by DFID, European Commission, UNFPA, USAID, OXFAM and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

HLFPPT consists of a multidisciplinary team comprising of professionals from public health, behaviour management, communication, program management, social franchising, social consulting, social marketing, advocacy, research, finance, human resource management and knowledge management professionals, all having distinctive competence in their functional domain. HLFPPT has been implementing various projects over the years and has received funds from various donors/funding organizations. All our projects have delivered the benchmarks for performance.

HLFPPT has a rich experience of working in health and development sector in the country. HLFPPT has been working with the GOI, state governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala implementing programmes in RCH and HIV prevention and care that reaches more than 400 million people.

Besides MOHFW, Government of India and state governments, HLFPPT programmes are funded by DFID, EC, USAID, UNFPA, OXFAM, NIPI and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation among others.

HLFPPT works in sync with the goals of NRHM / RCH II and NACP III. HLFPPT endeavour is to reach the BOP (Bottom of Pyramid) population.