Birth attendants lack equipment, expertise

By LULU MAGINDE
VILLAGE birth attendants in Morobe lack proper medical equipment and expertise to handle complicated births, claims a woman leader representative.
Gilam Michael, former Labuta local level government (LLG) women’s president, and a trained village birth attendant of 15 years, said that of the 33 LLGs in Morobe, each ward had at least three attendants who lacked the recognition and support from the Government.
Gilam claimed that there were no proper medical or birthing kits for what she estimated to be more than 1,500 birth attendants or midwives in the province.
“I’ve noticed that there isn’t proper training for the birth attendants in the village who have miscarriages, still births or post-partum depression,” she said.
“Even lacking are essential birthing kits containing rubber gloves and sterilised surgical equipment to cut a baby’s umbilical cord.
“I was once trying to call on the government to get the women in all 10 districts an allowance and while that did not happen, I do try to advocate for them as they go out of their way to provide a much needed service for the community.”
According to the acting director of public health Kelly Misere, there
was an ongoing programme run by the family health services office, where they train village health volunteers.
“Our people run the training but I’m not clear on the exact number of volunteers because they’re more like a branch of the Morobe health authority,” he said.
Gilam’s plea to expecting mothers and their husbands in the village was to prepare a K20 to give to the attendants/volunteers, as a sign of appreciation and also to help support them because they helped cut down transportation and travel costs to the hospital by delivering the babies at home.
She provided the example of her visit to the Tewae-Siassi with her husband some years back, when she was approached by seven certified attendants from Wasu LLG, who voiced their complaints with her, recognising her position in the province.
Attempts to contact the family health services coordinator in Lae for a comment were unsuccessful.