Skip to main content

Govt hospitals ease labour norms

By
It’s just got easier for women to face childbirth. A woman from the family can now accompany them in the labour room in government hospitals. In hospitals where privacy protocols are followed, even the husband can be with the woman, essentially to provide the emotional support.
The directive by the Union ministry of health and family welfare doesn’t allow relatives, particularly men, inside the labour room.
In a release issued on Thursday, the ministry said the innovative move was aimed at reducing maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and infant mortality ratio (IMR).
“While several measures have been taken up by the ministry over the years aimed in reduction in MMR and IMR, this step signifies India’s commitment under sustainable development goals to further accelerate initiatives with specific focus on quality parameters of the interventions,” said JP Nadda, health minister.
While pregnant women may rejoice at the idea, gynaecologists in government hospitals see it as trouble in the making.
“Where is the space,” asked a senior gynaecologist in a Delhigovernment-run hospital. “One bed is at times shared by three women and with one attendant allowed per woman, it is going to be a nuisance,” she said.
“I am not denying the benefits of the idea, but it works well in the western set-up where a lady delivers in isolation with her husband or family for company. It is not feasible in an overcrowded country like India,” she added.
HOW WILL IT HELP
Birth companions are women who have experienced labour and provide continuous one –to-one support to other women in labour. They provide emotional support (continuous reassurance), information about labour progress and advice regarding coping techniques, comfort measures (comforting touch, massages, promoting adequate fluid intake and output), and advocacy (helping the woman articulate her wishes to the other).
The World Health Organization also promotes labour companionship as a core element of care for improving maternal and infant health. A trained birth companion contributes to reduced tension and shortened labour, increased mother’s feelings of control, decreased interventions and caesareans. It also enhances the partner’s participation, improves outcome for the newborn, facilitates parent/infant bonding, and decreases postpartum depression while increasing positive feelings about the birth experience.
Hindusan Times, New Delhi, 26th February 2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Household debt up, but India still lags emerging-market economies: RBI

By
  Although household debt in India is rising, driven by increased borrowing from the financial sector, it remains lower than in other emerging-market economies (EMEs), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its Financial Stability Report. It added that non-housing retail loans, largely taken for consumption, accounted for 55 per cent of total household debt.As of December 2024, India’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at 41.9 per cent. “...Non-housing retail loans, which are mostly used for consumption purposes, formed 54.9 per cent of total household debt as of March 2025 and 25.7 per cent of disposable income as of March 2024. Moreover, the share of these loans has been growing consistently over the years, and their growth has outpaced that of both housing loans and agriculture and business loans,” the RBI said in its report.Housing loans, by contrast, made up 29 per cent of household debt, and their growth has remained steady. However, disaggregated data sho...
Post a Comment
Read more

External spillovers likely to hit India's financial system: RBI report

By
  While India’s growth remains insulated from global headwinds mainly due to buoyant domestic demand, the domestic financial system could, however, be impacted by external spillovers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its half yearly Financial Stability Report published on Monday.Furthermore, the rising global trade disputes and intensifying geopolitical hostilities could negatively impact the domestic growth outlook and reduce the demand for bank credit, which has decelerated sharply. “Moreover, it could also lead to increased risk aversion among investors and further corrections in domestic equity markets, which despite the recent correction, remain at the high end of their historical range,” the report said.It noted that there is some build-up of stress, primarily in financial markets, on account of global spillovers, which is reflected in the marginal rise in the financial system stress indicator, an indicator of the stress level in the financial system, compared to its p...
Post a Comment
Read more

Retail inflation cools to a six-year low of 2.82% in May on moderating food prices

By
  New Delhi: Retail inflation in India cooled to its lowest level in over six years in May, helped by a sharp moderation in food prices, according to provisional government data released Thursday.Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation eased to 2.82% year-on-year, down from 3.16% in April and 4.8% in May last year, data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) showed. This marks the fourth consecutive month of sub-4% inflation, the longest such streak in at least five years.The data comes just days after the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee cut the repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.5%, its third straight cut and a cumulative reduction of 100 basis points since the easing cycle began in February. The move signals a possible pivot from inflation control to supporting growth.Food inflation came in at just 0.99% in May, down from 1.78% in April and a sharp decline from 8.69% a year ago.A Mint poll of 15 economists had projected CPI ...
Post a Comment
Read more