National Journal of Community Medicine│Volume 6│Issue 2│Apr – Jun 2015 Page 258 ORIGINAL ARTICLE pISSN 0976 3325│eISSN 2229 6816 Open Access Article www.njcmindia.org UTILIZATION OF MATERNAL CARE SERVICES IN URBAN AREA: STILL AN ISSUE OF MODERN WORLD Neha Bavarva 1 , Prakash Patel 2 , R K Bansal 3 Financial Support: None declared Conflict of interest: None declared Copy right: The Journal retains the copyrights of this article. However, reproduction of this article in the part or total in any form is permis- sible with due acknowledgement of the source. How to cite this article: Bavarva N, Patel PB, Bansal RK. Utilization of Maternal Care Ser- vices in Urban area: Still an Issue of Modern World. Ntl J of Community Med 2015; 6(2):125-129. Author’s Affiliation: 1 Post gradu- ate student, 2 Assistant Professor, 3 Professor & Head, Dept. of Com- munity Medicine, SMIMER, Surat Correspondence: Dr. Neha Bavarva E-mail: nehabavarva@gmail.com Date of Submission: 11-05-15 Date of Acceptance: 20-06-15 Date of Publication: 30-06-15 ABSTRACT Introduction: Inspite of ongoing efforts of the government, home deliveries are still reported in urban area where finance and dis- tance play minor role. The aim is to study the reasons regarding the barriers of health facility delivery system in Surat city of India. Methodology: Out of 1004 community based service providing centre of Surat 30 centres were selected by using cluster sampling design. In selected 30 Maternal and Child Day Care Centres, Sec- ond phase of sampling was done where household was sampling unit. A household survey was conducted to assess maternal and child healthcare status. Results: Among 322 surveyed mothers, 42 mothers delivered at home. Among the home delivered mother 93% was registered for antenatal care, however only 68% had completed 3 Ante natal visits. The most common reason cited by mothers for home deliv- ery was lack of time (45%) followed by family pressure or social custom; unfelt need for hospital delivery and lack of faith in hos- pital. Conclusion: Though the overall rate of home delivery was less, most of the reasons cited for the home delivery are avoidable, es- pecially when most mothers came into contact of health care sys- tem at least once. Key words: Maternal care, JSY, urban, obstetric services, home delivery INTRODUCTION More than 0.35 million annual maternal deaths 1 , almost all in developing countries 2-4 and mostly due to preventable causes 4-5 reiterate the im- portance of institutional delivery. Preference for institutional delivery has direct strong relation with quality of care obtained during antenatal period. 6-8 In spite of constant efforts to promote institutional delivery in developing countries like India, home deliveries continue to occur. 9-11 Due to absence of skilled health professionals in case of home deliveries if there is any complica- tion, intervention is usually late. 12,13 This directly leads to poor maternal and infant outcomes. 14-18 During past decade interest has developed in examining influences on health care-seeking be- haviour. According to "three delays" model, there are three main inhibitors to health care ser- vice utilisation. First is the delay in deciding to seek care for obstetric emergency, second is the delay in reaching an appropriate health care fa- cility and third is the delay in receiving adequate care on reaching facility. 19 The first delay may be due to family pressure or social custom, family didn’t feel need for hospital delivery, a lack of