Why mothers die? A survey of maternal mortality in a district hospital in Bihar.

The still appalling maternal mortality compelled the author to delineate the causes of maternal mortality in a district hospital in an EAG state Bihar; to analyse why some causes are more common and to discuss some low-cost obstetric and administrative interventions to reduce maternal mortality speedily. Case notes of 52 maternal deaths over a one year period in a district hospital in Bihar were analysed. Traditionally recognized major causes of maternal mortality-toxaemia infection haemorrhage and anaemia- are still rampant in the rural population of Bihar. The maternal death figures can be drastically and rapidly reduced by simple pharmacological and administrative interventions that do not require sophisticated expensive ultramodern technology.