City based Foundation sponsors symposium in IX ICM Asia Pacific Midwives conference held for the first time in the country.

Vadodara: When the nation is moving ahead on the path of development there are still miles to go when it comes to providing high quality healthcare services to women and babies. One of the reasons is acute shortage of midwifery and nursing personnel. Considering this crisis, the IX ICM ‘Asia Pacific Midwives' Conference was organized for the first time in India from 19-22 November, 2009 at Hotel Marriott, Hyderabad by Academy for Nursing Studies and Women’s Empowerment Research Studies (ANSWERS). The event was inaugurated by Dr. Gulam Nabi Azad, Hon’ble Minister of Health, Government of India.

Deepak Foundation, a non-governmental organization working in the Vadodara district to reduce infant and maternal mortality ratio sponsored a symposium entitled “Changing Role of Midwives with increase in institutional deliveries in tribal areas: A case study of Public- Private-Partnership”. The symposium was chaired by Mr. Nesim Tumkaya, UNFPA Representative. The speakers included Dr. Dileep Mavlankar, Professor and Chairman of Center for Management of Health Services, IIM-Ahmedabad, Dr. Sharad Iyengar, Director, ARTH, Udaipur and Ms. Archana Joshi, Director, Deepak Foundation.

The symposia highlighted the gaps in health infrastructure of Gujarat which depicts 22% shortage of Multipurpose Worker (Female)/ ANM at Sub-Centres (SCs) and Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and 51.1% shortage of Nurse/ Midwife at PHCs & Community Health Centers (CHCs). The facility survey of SCs and PHCs in the year 2006 in the tribal blocks emphasized on the need for village women volunteers. Ms. Joshi talked about the need for a paradigm shift in roles and responsibilities of ANMs so that both institutional as well as home based care could be ensured. Dr. Mavlankar opined that initiating a cadre of midwives with proper training is very essential to improve the health indicators. It would improve access to skilled maternal and infant care in the remote rural and tribal areas. He recommended introducing a specialized course for the midwifery profession while Dr Iyengar felt that skilled care through in-depth training to local women could improve maternal and neonatal health. “They cannot be seen as merely conducting normal deliveries and referring every single complication”, he added.

A Public Health Nurse Officer (PHNO) of the District Training Team, Vadodara giving her views on the symposium said, “Rather than introducing a new midwifery cadre, the already existing workforce of ‘Gram Mitra’ and ASHAs should be trained and better equipped to assist the female health worker to increase the number of institutional deliveries and reduce IMR and MMR.”

The symposium brought to the fore different perspectives of various stakeholders. There was a consensus on the fact that role of ANMs needs to be relooked and sharing of some of her responsibilities with the emerging cadre of ASHAs is needed.