Over 1,000 midwives take oath to serve in Bangladesh

Midwifery as a profession did not exist before 2010 when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina announced that 3,000 midwives would be deployed to improve maternal and newborn health in Bangladesh.

Then came forward the UN’s population agency UNFPA to make it happen and midwifery was born as a separate profession in the country.

On Thursday, 1,143 midwives took oath before the health minister and the representatives of the international community to serve women and girls with “honour and integrity”.

Of them, 593 were posted on June 18 last year, and the rest 550 would join on Sept 1.

Altogether, they took the oath of the profession in a formal ceremony in Dhaka at a grand ‘orientation and recruitment of midwives’ event.

The purpose of the event was to recognise the achievement of the government of Bangladesh in creating a new cadre in the health care system being filled up by the newly deployed professional midwives, the UNFPA said.

Health Minister Mohammad Nasim praised the prime minister for her initiative to make nurses and midwives second-class gazetted officers.

He told the newly deployed midwives that they now have a “crucial role to fulfill, and that they will be able to experience great joy when helping the most vulnerable”.

According to Nasim, as a special cadre, they will carry “a great deal of responsibility and as a result, should treat those in need with respect and dignity”.

Torkelsson also expressed gratitude to the Embassy of Sweden, and the high commissions of the United Kingdom and Canada for their support in strengthening the national nursing and midwifery programme.

The First Secretary of the Canadian High Commission Gabrielle Mathieu applauded Bangladesh for the “remarkable progress” through the deployment of midwives.

“Midwives are very crucial in ensuring sexual and reproductive health and rights, and as a result, will help enforce gender equality in the society,” she said.

Programme Officer at the Embassy of Sweden Zahirul Islam emphasised how important midwives are for establishing sexual and reproductive health and rights in Bangladesh by acting as real change-makers in society.

“The maternal and child health would most certainly be improved with the addition of the midwifery cadre,” he observed.

Health and Population Adviser to the DfID Shehlina Ahmed said “midwives shall not only save the lives of mothers and newborns, but also have the power to transform our society as a whole”.

UNFPA Representative in Dhaka Asa Torkelsson said newly deployed “professional midwives will step into their roles as health care providers and become leaders of high quality sexual and reproductive health care for women and girls in Bangladesh”.

She congratulated them and thanked the Bangladesh government for this “amazing initiative”.

Tandra Sikder, director general for nursing and midwifery services, congratulated all the midwives on their new deployment and encouraged them “to serve with honour and integrity” before administrating them the oath of the profession.

She also thanked UNFPA and the donors for their technical support.

Approximately 5,200 women die every year in Bangladesh due to pregnancy or birth-related causes, and 23 out of 1000 newborns do not survive. Two-thirds of these deaths would be preventable.

Global evidence shows that midwives who are educated and regulated to international standards can provide 87 percent of the essential care needed for women and newborns.