Helpline that’s an umbilical cord to med care for expectant mothers, newborns

In an unprecedented scenario, the coronavirus pandemic has led to even hospitals shutting down non-emergency services. As a result, both expecting and lactating mothers are now placed in a difficult situation.

As pregnancy and postnatal period need support and care, Bangalore Birth Network (BBN), an NGO, launched the Covid-19 MotherChild Helpline on April 3.

The Helpline consists of a team of counsellors who are trained in guidelines from the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India, Indian Academy of Paediatrics and World Health Organisation to help women and families with authentic information regarding Covid-19 care.

For any mother or child-related information or help, one has to give a missed call to 7412900045. An SMS link to a short survey is immediately sent to the caller. The link contains questions such as the month of pregnancy or age of the infant, preferred language, hospital, doctor, etc. A trained counsellor returns the call within 24 hours.

The free, phone-based counselling service is available to anyone throughout India in eight languages i.e., English, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Punjabi.

“We launched the MotherChild Helpline to help families with the information they are looking for or even connect them to medical professionals who are still providing their service during the lockdown,” says Asha Kilaru, co-founder, BBN.

They have received over 30,000 queries on Facebook and other social media platforms. The helpline has received over a hundred calls so far on pregnancy issues, planning for birth without a family member and postnatal care. “The queries include concerns about check-ups, scanning, ensuring the safety of the mother and the baby, and how to breastfeed if tested positive for coronavirus. There is also a worry around missing the child’s vaccinations,” says Dr Madhavi Latha, a childbirth educator at BBN.

“With the conflicting information available on the internet, most callers are confused and worried. The worry turns into panic when they are not able to gain access to their doctors for various reasons. The counsellor addresses their initial query and then follows up with callers on a regular basis to ensure they are receiving continuous support from their doctor. If there are updates on vaccinations, previous callers are sent an SMS about the same,” says Sapna Krishnan, a counsellor at BBN.