Labour rooms in govt hospitals set for a fancy makeover

NEW DELHI: With birthing balls, suspension straps, grass mats and other tools and props that help manage labour pain, the Union health ministry is seeking to revamp delivery rooms in government hospitals to make natural childbirth a stress-free and calm experience for women.

Earlier this month, the health ministry began an 18-month course to train nurses in midwifery to run midwife-led units that the ministry plans to attach to the gynaecology and obstetrics departments in medical colleges and district hospitals with high case load, to improve the experience of care for women having nonsurgical deliveries.

The initiative is a part of the ministry’s Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) programme that aims to provide a better environment for women coming to deliver babies in government hospitals.

Health experts, while welcoming the initiative to introduce midwife-led units to manage patients in crowded gynaecology and obstetrics departments, still have their doubts about adding the extra frills, given the state of most government hospitals that lack even basic amenities such as clean water and sanitation facilities.

“We should be rational in our approach; these things are good but secondary, as the focus should be on providing a sterilised environment, and all the necessary instruments first,” says Dr Alka Kriplani, former head of the gynaecology and obstetrics department at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi.

Dr Dileep Mavlankar,