BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government has decided to set up midwifery-led care units in the state to reduce infant mortality rate (IMR), maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and Caesarean section (C-section) deliveries.Such units will come up at all medical colleges and hospitals, and district headquarters hospitals in the first phase and in sub-divisional hospitals, CHCs and first referral hospitals in the next phase.
Since midwives are the most appropriate and cost-effective professionals to give care to women during a normal pregnancy and birth, they will be lead professionals to support women from the initial visit to the post-natal period.
In order to push the initiative, the Health and Family Welfare department has begun special training of nurses, who have a general nursing and midwifery diploma or a bachelor’s degree and who are currently working in hospitals.
While the state midwifery training institute (SMTI) has been opened at SCB Medical College and Hospital at Cuttack and MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur, one more institute will soon start at VIMSAR, Burla. The institutes will train 30 students each in a batch.
A study by Lancet found that expanding midwifery services to provide universal coverage could reduce maternal mortality by 83 per cent and stillbirths by 71 per cent as well as decrease newborn mortality by 58 per cent. Despite the achievement of an institutional delivery rate of 92.2 per cent, the MMR is at 119 per one lakh live births.
Director nursing Dr Ramachandra Rout said the care and medical attention received during pregnancy and childbirth are crucial factors that determine the survival of both mothers and newborns.
“A new cadre of professional midwives - nurse practitioners in midwifery (NPM) post training will be deployed in the midwifery-led care units. They will help achieve the target set to reduce the IMR, MMR, C-section deliveries and provide women-centric quality services in the state,” he said.
The trained midwives will provide care tailored to the individual woman’s needs and special care to low risk women. Plans are afoot to set up five more SMTIs at the nursing colleges in Nabarangpur, Sundargarh, Dhenkanal, Kalahandi and Kandhamal in the next three years. The state requires around 3,664 NPMs.
Health secretary Shalini Pandit said the government has taken numerous steps to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality in the state. The NPMs trained to global standards will work in maternity service areas to provide compassionate and quality birthing care which will lead to a positive childbirth experience, she added.