Midwifes have a role in country's rural health: Experts

Annie Samson
New Delhi, May 9 (PTI) Bijla, a middle-aged woman in Jharkhand, bustled around a woman undergoing her third delivery. Bijla, who doubles up as a 'dai' (midwife) saved the woman in labour from life-threatening complications by rushing her off to a hospital for a cesarean.

It is estimated that over 10 lakh women like Bijla still operate as traditional birth attendants (TBAs) in rural and urban communities, especially in the northern part of the country, assisting women in deliveries as also providing counselling and psycho social support.

"The TBA-dais play an active role as sort of a health worker integrating herself into the village or urban poor community by advising the family about pre and post natal care, counselling them about polio and booster vaccinations and counselling them on family planning," says Mirabai, of the Dai Sangathan in Gujarat.

With the government adopting various methods to push for a reduction in the country's maternal mortality rate, currently at 300 per 100,000 live births, that includes discouraging traditional home deliveries, experts have pointed out that instead of marginalising the age old support practices that the dais provide, it must be recognised, documented and preserved.

Bijla and others like her from 11 states recounted their experiences and problems at a meeting where health experts and NGOs recently gathered in the capital for a national consultation to advocate for a concrete role for dais in public health programmes such as the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) launched in 2005.