Accessible healthcare for new mothers

I was born a healthy child in a small town of rural Sindh with the help of a dai (midwife) known to my grandfather for years. I was later taken to a hospital for vaccination and check-ups like my other siblings. There are innumerable midwives boasting a very high birth survival ratio in rural Pakistan. There was a time when dais were revered and no one looked down upon them. But this is not the case today. Times have changed and at present, a large number of women are acquiring skills in midwifery. Such training is part of an economic model being practised in many developed countries. If the services of such women, duly trained of course, are used to handle normal deliveries, the cost of maternal healthcare can be minimised and the rate of maternal mortality can be reduced in the long run.

However, many consider such women to be inferior to gynecologists. In the wake of this senseless stigma, there is a dire need to create awareness among the people about the importance of midwives. People must understand that these women are not unwanted charlatans, but trained and skilled birth attendants. This collective recognition will give them respect and a chance to live with the dignity they truly deserve. When medical facilities were even harder to get across the country, midwives played an important role in facilitating pregnancies and providing neo-natal care. Instead of maligning these women, efforts should be made to train them further so that healthcare becomes accessible in every village across the country.

Unfortunately, qualified midwives are still sidelined by hospital management and doctors. The fact is that they are capable and must be given the chance to handle normal deliveries in hospitals. I attended a two-day workshop organised by the Population Council in Bhurban in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund recently. The council’s director said in his speech that changes can come through little innovations and explained how his team collaborated with NGOs and trained a large number of dais across the country. He strongly believed that it was not easy to get rid of non-professional women handling deliveries so it was a better idea to train them. The Aga Khan University in Karachi launched a graduate programme in midwifery last year and the first batch will be graduating on November 29. The programme is the first of its kind in South Asia. Similar efforts must be made across the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2014.