February 13, 2015
Sindh Institute of Reproductive Medicine (SIRM), organized a one day Midwifery Workshopon the occasion of their “7th Anniversary”on February 13, 2015. SIRM is one of the most advanced centers for infertility treatment in Pakistan that effectively caters to couples who require infertility treatment and want to experience the joys of parenthood. They invited almost all schools of nursing and midwifery from Karachi to attend this event. It was a great effort from SIRM as they had arranged and organized a very informative session on the importance of midwife in our society.
The Welcome address was delivered by the President of SIRM, Dr. Shaheen Zafar. She emphasized on the point that whatever role the midwives have, e.g. Ifthey are involved in the care of pregnant women, new mothers or infants they needto broaden their knowledge and skills by advancing their academic and professional development and by increasing their experience in daily practice.
Following Dr.Shaheen Zafar,Dr.Shershah Syed appraised the contribution of midwives in the field of midwifery. He also talked about the presence of domestic violence and the role of midwife to identify and handle it. He urgedthat midwives should know their crucial role in identifying and managing domestic violence. He acknowledged that midwives are unprepared to do so and indicated various barriers that need to be overcome. He also stated that there is a need to implement basic education on the subject and provide specific professional training because domestic violence is a hidden and difficult to detect problem.Women should be offered competent and global support and a multidisciplinary approach is necessary. Consequently, clinical experience, therapeutic relationships with the women and continuity of care are fundamental in detecting violence.
DrRafat Jan President of MAP (Midwifery Association of Pakistan) also shared her views on this auspicious day. She highlighted the importance of the strengthening leadership qualities of the midwives. She shared three pillars of ICM which are the bases of association through which a midwife can survive successfully. Dr. Rafat shared that skilled, empowered midwives receive respect from women and communities by providing expert, culturally refined care, and they do more than just contribute to safer childbirth. It is clear that ‘the world needs midwives, now more than ever’ (ICM, 2013) therefore increasing the number of midwives will not, however, be enough to address current critical shortages. Many midwives are working in difficult, unsafe, isolated, poorly equipped environments where there are daily challenges to be overcome. This situation demoralizes them and impacts on their capacity to stay in their roles.
There is therefore an imperative to put in place some strategies to ensure that midwives are more enabled, better supported and importantly, retained over the long term. In Pakistan MAP is the voice of midwives therefore it is necessary to strengthen it by joining it through member ship. In addition she advised SIRM from the platform of MAP to arrange another seminar/ workshop at a higher level on the day of midwifery i.e., IDM on May 5, 2015.
Midwifery students also presented two speeches in favor and against on the notion of ‘Labor Room is the Domain of Midwife’. Both students were very well prepared and presented their views in a very energetic way. After that MC (Dr.Shaheen Zafar) invited specialists to give their expert opinion on the same issue after hearing the two pros and cons conversation of the students. First Mrs.Imtiaz Kamal (former President of MAP) shared her views that midwife and doctor both are essential pillars of labor room. Doctors are like a wall at the back of the midwife, so that they are protecting them from any falling. Dr.RozinaKarmalianisaid that doctor and midwife are the key components of labor room and that one cannot survive without the other. Another gynecologist from Baluchistan, Dr. Abida Gul added her views and emphasized that midwives are the back bone of a labor room and need to strengthen their skills and enhance their knowledge to compete the global standards.
Finally there was a short scripted drama presented by midwifery students. The importance of midwife in the community was highlighted. The seminar was closed at 2:00 pm and lunch was served from SIRM. All the participants received their certificates and one copy of medical dictionary.