Nurses 'deliver' babies at maternity homes

Severe shortage of docs; 3 maternity homes have none

For the 23-year-old daughter of an auto driver, her mother Tasneem and the attending nurse were the only care she could seek at the Cox Town Maternity Home.Be it to attend to her needs or for delivering the baby, the nurse is the sole medical practioner she had at her bedside.

This is actually the case across the City. Senior officials claim that nurses, on an average, conduct about five deliveries per day at these homes and hospitals.
Reason: The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has only one gynaecologist available between 9 am and 4 pm for their Cox Town maternity home.

Short on cash and manpower, the Palike has been facing a crisis in recruiting medical practioners at all their 24 maternity homes and six referral hospitals.

While the minimum requirement of doctors at these homes and hospitals is 113, there are only 57 doctors.

“There are about 23 doctors on contract,” a BBMP official said. And, three of their maternity homes at Shanthinagar, Gavipuram Guttahalli and Jayanagar do not even have a single doctor to attend to the expecting mothers. On March 31, it was reported that a newborn died at a hospital after it developed complications.

Inefficient medical care

The baby was delivered at the Srirampura Referral Hospital and insiders believe that the tragic incident occurred due to lack of proper medical care. Again, the delivery was conducted by a nurse at the referral hospital.

Recalling the action taken by the nurse the medical officer Dr Fathima said: “The umbilical cord had got wound around the baby’s neck due to which the baby developed breathing problems. The on-call gynaecologist was called but the nurse had managed to complete the delivery before the doctor arrived.”

Due to asphyxiation, it was suggested that the baby be taken to a better nursing home, where it later died.

Lamenting about the pathetic conditions under which medical care is being administered to citizens, Dr Fathima claimed that as many as 150 deliveries are conducted each month by two doctors in the Srirampura Referral Hospital.
BBMP officials claim that despite a drop in the number, on an average at least 30 deliveries are conducted in each of the 24 maternity homes.