Symbolism or substance? TN health workers question golden ring scheme
Every year, the state government spends ₹755.83 million to gift one-gram gold rings to around 4.42 million children born in government hospitals under the leadership of Thailandamana Thanga Mothiram Thittam. | Photo credit: File
Every year, the state government spends ₹755.83 million to gift one-gram gold rings to around 4.42 million children born in government hospitals under the new Thailandaman Thanga Mothiram Thittam scheme. A golden ring may be intended as a celebration of birth, but for many in the public health sector, the more pressing need is to invest in the workforce and infrastructure that enables safe births.
Already now the program Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit is providing maternity assistance of ₹14,000 in cash and two nutritional kits worth ₹4,000. With this in place, questions are aplenty – Can the state government bear the recurring cost of ₹ 755.83 crore per annum or ₹ 17,000 per ring (today’s gold rate) for 4,41,667 deliveries along with administrative costs? Are token incentives like gold rings the best use of public resources when fundamental gaps in the health system remain unaddressed? Will it destroy state measures in the area of family welfare by encouraging births of a higher order?
The head of the government institution found it bizarre that the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) was tasked with procuring and supplying the rings based on an annual indent given by the Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. TNMSC will procure resources transparently through open competitive bidding in accordance with the Tamil Nadu Transparency in Tenders Act and Rules.
“TNMSC was set up in the 1990s to procure quality drugs for government hospitals. But now it is mandated to buy the yellow metal. How ethical is that is the question we have to ask,” he said.
The health official pointed out that the scheme has no political connection to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 deaths per 1,00,000 live births and end preventable deaths of newborns and children under five by 2030).
Another public health official said TN has already achieved near-universal institutional birth coverage, with institutional births exceeding 99%, leaving limited scope for further improvement. “Government legitimacy comes from good governance, not symbolic kinship. Public resources should go towards strengthening systems and services that create lasting benefits, rather than initiatives that primarily serve symbolic or emotional purposes,” he said.
While more incentives are being put in place, many front-line health workers continue to be underpaid, he said, adding that contract workers in reproductive and child health receive around ₹4,500 a month.
“There is an acute shortage of obstetricians and gynecologists. The government should announce funds to hire more gynecologists once they announce such programs,” the doctor said.
There is a bigger problem with births of a higher order, which is the main problem in the care of the health of mothers and children. “This scheme applies to all newborns, regardless of the third or fourth child. Doesn’t this conflict with the government’s family welfare program? On the one hand, we incentivize mothers to undergo sterilization after two children, and on the other hand, the government gives incentives to have any number of children,” she asked.
The doctor said that certain conditions could be introduced into the system, including two mandatory post-natal visits for mothers at the end of the first week and the sixth week of delivery and complete immunization of the child up to 1.5 years of age.
Former Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine K. Kolandasamy called it a good scheme as it would improve institutional delivery. “Private hospitals are one of the important reasons for the high rate of C-sections. There is a big difference between C-section rates in the private and government sectors. This scheme could help reduce the number of C-sections,” he said.
The scheme could act as an incentive for families belonging to the lower-middle income group to opt for delivery in government hospitals, thereby reducing their expenditure on maternal health and delivery in private hospitals. “I would suggest to provide two gram gold rings for girls and one gram gold rings for boys,” he said and called for a robust monitoring mechanism at all levels.
Published – 25 Jun 2026 0:30 AM IST