In a first of its kind initiative in the country, the health authorities from Telangana have deployed the first batch of trained midwives in Sangareddy district hospital. The separate cadre of qualified midwives will directly be involved with pregnant women and play an active role in ensuring women undergo a safe and satisfying pregnancy, apart from checking the rate of Caesarean sections.
The team of 30 midwives have started interacting with pregnant women and will now strive to introduce the concept of delivering babies with dignity, privacy and compassion. This is the first exclusive cadre of midwives in the country who have been directly deployed at a State-run hospital.
“It’s a great development that has happened in the State. I personally have met the midwives and also interacted with pregnant women, who now have a choice of enjoying their pregnancy with some dignity. It’s great that this concept was also embraced by health authorities in New Delhi,” says Dr. Evita Fernandez, MD of Fernandez Hospitals to #KhabarLive.
The State health authorities collaborated with Fernandez Hospital, which has a highly evolved midwifery course and cadre, and several midwifery experts from London, to impart training to the first batch of midwives in India in public health care institutions.
“This is a crucial development that has happened in providing safe delivery options for pregnant women at a State-run hospital. The training was highly technical and our senior nurses did very well during the theoretical part, which lasted for close to a year,” says Superintendent, Mother and Child Health (MCH) Centre, Karimnagar, Dr. Ajay Kumar.
Under the watchful eyes of midwives from London and Fernandez Hospital, talented senior nurses drawn from various government hospitals underwent training for over a year at the MCH Centre of Karimnagar before being deployed at Sangareddy.
According to health officials, the nurses had also performed exceptionally well by scoring more than 75 per cent in Post-Partum Haemorrhage (PPE) practical tests. For the first batch of midwives, only in-service candidates were selected after they cleared a series of written tests.
The midwives have been specially trained to encourage and teach pregnant women undergo natural delivery, instead of C-sections. They are also trained specially to identify and take care of low-risk pregnant women with no health related complications. The high risk pregnancies are usually referred to State-run tertiary hospitals under the care of speciality doctors. #KhabarLive
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Faraaz Mohammed