Kathmandu, May 4 -- A few weeks ago, a 20-year-old woman from ward 3 of Tila Rural Municipality of Jumla district succumbed to maternity-related complications.

The woman, who had given birth to her baby at the Karnali Academy of Health Sciences, was airlifted to the Provincial Hospital in Surkhet after she suffered from high blood pressure.

Doctors later found that she was suffering from renal and liver failure at the time she was admitted to the hospital. She died of complications.

Including this case, 69 other women from 56 districts died of maternity-related complications in the first eight months of the fiscal year, according to the data provided by the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services.

Officials adm...