Nearly 1,200 community health workers in the district will be given mobile phones by the administration to make maternity services more accessible to pregnant women in remote areas, an official said here today.

To improve a skewed sex ratio of 856:1000, it was decided to provide provide phones to Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) so that timely help is provided to expecting women, District Magistrate Mukesh Meshram said.

Attributing the low ratio to female infanticide, he said the step was necessary since maternity facilities were inaccessible to pregnant women during nights.

Meshram also said the health workers, also known as 'Asha Bahu', will maintain a record of the number of pregnant women and those who had an abortion.

A woman suspected of abortion will be probed for the reasons, he said.

The administration will also spread awareness on the vaccination that an infant should be given and against gender selective abortions.