2nd July, 2011 The cost of treatment is high and poor population is not able to afford expensive medicines and other medical procedures,” said Dr Jan Baz Afridi, the deputy director of expanded programme on immunisation of health department. He was addressing as chief guest the concluding session of refresher courses for midwives of flood-hit areas at Kuwait Teaching Hospital on Sunday. He said that researches had shown that prevention of diseases was the best option to create a disease-free society.
Dr Afridi asked the midwives to concentrate on preventive side of medication than curative one because it was the easier way to avoid health complications. The would-be mothers required more care during pregnancy and it depended upon the skills of midwives to manage deliveries, he added.
“The child-bearing women should undergo regular checkups to avoid any problem,” he said.
He added that midwives should also take care of vaccination of pregnant women. “Vaccination has been proved great success throughout the world in eradication of childhood ailments and therefore it is highly important that we concentrate on immunisation of pregnant women and children,” Dr Afridi said.
The government, he said, was giving priority to the role of midwives to improve maternal and child health. He said that about 360 mothers died out of 100,000 live births in Pakistan per year while situation in India, Bangla Desh and other neighboiuring countries was much better owing to preventive steps.
He also gave away certificates to 16 midwives at the completion of six-week training, organised by Prime Foundation in collaboration with International Development and Relief Foundation of Canada.
Dr Saeed Anwar, the director of Prime Foundation, said that the foundation had been serving marginalised people since its establishment in 2005. The foundation had served the people affected by earthquake in Hazara division and internally displaced persons from Fata and Malakand.
Under this initiative, 128 midwives would be trained in six-week refresher courses in eight batches to assist people in their respective areas.
Dr Usman Raza, the deputy director of Prime Foundation, said that role of midwives was very crucial in preventing death of pregnant women through using clean aseptic techniques during birthing process, preventing delays in extending the required obstetric care, timely identification and referral of complicated cases to the big health facilities for management.
