Jaipur, July 14 -- Rajasthan Health Minister Gajendra Singh Khimsar on Tuesday said the state's maternal death figures are within the standards prescribed by national and World Health Organisation (WHO) norms, while describing the recent deaths reported at government hospitals as "unfortunate and tragic".

Speaking to ANI, Khimsar said that maternal deaths are assessed against established national and global parameters and maintained that Rajasthan's figures fall within the accepted range.

"Consider the national-level standards and WHO norms; they accept up to 87 deaths per 100,000 deliveries--whether cesarean or normal--as an expected figure. We fall within those norms. It is certainly unfortunate and a very tragic event that a signific...