The best place for delivery is home: Heather Bower

Kochi: While the rapidly increasing rate of Caesarian section in the state is pointing towards to the misuse of the procedure by private hospitals for commercial benefits, a midwifery expert from University of Michigan, Ms. Heather Bower suggests setting up of birth centres, community maternity centres, to encourage natural deliveries. The concept, which is popular in the UK, can be successfully replicated here, according to the expert. While talking to DC during a recent trip to Kochi, Ms. Bower remarked that the best place to give birth is home, if it is a no risk pregnancy.

”The midwife-led birth centres are becoming popular in UK. Having very few private hospitals, the practice of advising C-section for commercial benefits is not there,” she said. The community maternity centres will have expert midwifes who can handle the procedures safely and naturally. These centres provide continuity of care and have all facilities for safe delivery like relaxing music, birthing balls, water birth pools. Promoting traditional and safe birthing should be the basic policy. “Awareness classes for pregnant women, especially for first time mothers should be made mandatory.”

Though alternative birthing options like delivering in water has introduced by very few centres in Kerala, people are still scared of such alternative methods, she observed. “The concept of midwife assisted labour in affordable community maternity centres has to be brought back. Pregnancy is not an illness and women should go to hospitals only if it is a high risk or complicated situation,” she said. Ms. Bower is serving as Lead Midwife for Education at Department of Family Care and Mental Health, University of Greenwich. She visited few hospitals in Kerala and other states during her three – time visits.