Midwife shortage: No local midwives in VI!
Midwifery practioners, representatives of the Ministry of Health and the Premier Hon. Dr. D. Orlando Smith, all gathered yesterday May 3, 2012, at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park to commemorate International Midwives Day, which is officially slated for May 5.
Mrs. Hannibal told the attendees of the ceremony that among the many midwives in the general practice within the Virgin Islands, there are 12 mid-wives in actual practice at the Hospital which she said is “definitely not enough”.
“None of them are locals, this is definitely not good enough.”
Public Relations Manager for the BVI Health Services Authority, Ms. Tamara Archibald Gill informed Virgin Islands News Online that the 12 Midwives working at Peebles Hospital are from the islands of Grenada, Jamaica, Guyana, St. Vincent, St. Kitts and Dominica.
Looking at the good job that midwives have done, Mrs. Hannibal mentioned that of 312 deliveries done at Peebles hospital in 2011, 212 were by natural delivery, where 2/3 of the deliveries were done by midwives.
Chief Nursing Officer, Mrs. Bernett B. Scatliffe stated that midwives are important for the well-being of both infants and their mothers and it’s a shame that many people in the Virgin Islands, 40 years and younger, do not know who is a mid wife and what they do.
“In preparing for today’s event, I saw it interesting to ask persons within the community what they knew about midwives, amazingly, except for a few, many persons particularly those 40 years and younger, admitted to never hearing the term.”
She said she asked persons what do they think if there were no midwives existing in the country, where she received responses such as, “I guess we won’t have any more babies” and “I guess our babies will born with problems”.
“There is much work to be done in the VI to return midwifery to its place of prominence in this country, a place where each member of the community, knows the role and work of a midwife and to gain knowledge of why persons in the community are not attracted to the field,” said the Chief Nursing Officer.
She stated that in the past, midwives that existed in the Virgin Islands managed and delivered most or all uncomplicated deliveries and even some complicated ones, both in the communities and in the hospital, but today that is not so.
“There is a shortage of midwives in the BVI, for more than 20 years the BVI had no new recruits for midwifery education.”
Ms. Scatliffe stated that the care of mothers and infants in this country are mostly managed by private doctors. She said the main goal of the midwives is to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate.
Head of the Obstetrics Unit, Ms. Emerald Pemberton said in an effort to promote the midwifery profession in the VI, the BVI Nurses Association and the Nursing Administration are working with the schools to demonstrate to the students how important midwifery is to the country and how important it is for young people to be interested.
She told this news site that International Midwives Day is mainly to improve the care of mothers and infants thus decreasing the number of infant deaths that occur annually.
The goal for International Midwives Day 2012 is to raise awareness of Midwifery, locally, nationally, regionally and globally.
The objectives hoped to achieve from this year’s goal is informing, celebrating and motivating midwifery.
The committee for the international day will also be hosting a walk on May 5 2012, starting from the parking lot of the Government House, circling Road Town and ending at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park.
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