Temshinaro
DIMAPUR, AUGUST 29
CHILDBIRTH, labour, delivery, birth or parturition is the culmination of a pregnancy period which is also one of the most difficult stages that a woman undergoes for nine months.
Civil Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals of Dimapur District, has so many departments and wards that stand as a back bone for the people of Nagaland and from neighboring states likes Assam.All over the world, medical Doctors are the ones who are educated or trained to look after the weak and sick people. Gynecologists are doctors dealing with the health of the female reproductive system in both pregnant and non-pregnant state.
With the introduction of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) schemes by the Centre for all pregnant women, the number of patients in Maternity ward in the Civil Hospital has increased by more than 50 as JSY and JSSK provides several monetary funds to all pregnant women.
JSY scheme which was started by Central Government during 2005-06 and reached the State in 2007 where monetary benefits are given to all pregnant women to the tune of Rs. 700 to rural areas and Rs. 600 to urban areas so as to increase the institutional deliveries in urban and rural areas
The JSSK scheme was launched from October 2011 by the Government of India in order to reduce the deaths and prevent delivery mortality rate. Under JSSK travelling expenses are provided be it for or near to all the pregnant women and deliveries are encouraged to be made in hospital in order to avoid injuries to both the mother and the child. This scheme also provides monetary benefits to all the mothers with an amount of Rs. 1400 to normal deliveries and 2000 to cesarean deliveries.
The Civil Hospital, Dimapur, which was constructed decades back has reached a stage where the old building needs a better up-gradation especially the maternity ward which requires some major changes with more man power and better facilities.
There is no doubt that doctors are trying their best to help the patients but for better response, better facilities are also needed.
Altogether, there are three wards under maternity ward: ANC (Antenatal Check up) ward with 16 beds, Postnatal Check up (PNC) ward with 13 beds and Labour room with four beds.
One of the Doctors from the Maternity ward stated “When we run short of beds in ANC ward we transfer the patients to PNC ward and vice versa.” He also mentioned that more beds are needed as the number of patients is also increasing with the growth of population.
Under maternity ward there are only two regular doctors and two doctors from NRHM. And altogether there are just ten nurses (7 regular and 3 from NRHM) from both the morning and evening shifts who take care of patients in all the three sub-wards.
Every month an average of 350-400 patients come for ANC, 240-250 for deliveries and the number of surgeries reach an average of 35-40 every month.
Also, 25-30 patients from Karbi Anglong come to the Maternity ward every month as there are no Gynecologists in their neighboring hospitals.
Talking to Eastern Mirror, one of the doctors stated that due to financial constraints not everything they plan turns into practical. On being asked about the machineries and availability of equipments, he acknowledged that, “Laparoscopic surgery or Key Hole Surgery, a modern surgical technique in which operations in the abdomen are performed through small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) is need as patients are aware of it.”
Civil Hospital is one of the hospitals where thousands of people from grass root level rely on its existence as it is comparatively very cheap from other private hospitals and clinics.
The State Government should also consider the working conditions which have to be changed as Maternity ward is very much important for every family and it should be improvised with better equipments and facilities and manpower should also be increased as it will benefit everyone in so many positive ways.
