Community midwives often travel long distances on foot in emergencies, enduring fatigue, and dehydration to reach their destinations. Similarly, facility-based midwives sometime must quickly return after attending one case to attend to another waiting at their facility. Despite the challenges, they exert maximum effort to reach each patient in need. Sometimes, midwives continue attending to cases consecutively for more than 24 hours without adequate rest, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to providing essential healthcare services.
Mahnoor, a Lady Health Visitor, worked at Kotjai health centre in the district of D.I Khan of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province which was impacted by the 2022 floods. The Kotjai health centre was near the bus stop, easily accessible for all who stopped there. Due to ease of access in normal conditions the center was well attended and the Lady Health Visitors (LHV) as well as the doctors and midwives were busy with the work. The center on average catered to over three hundred childbirths every month. This was a center that was equipped with an ultrasound machine and a new labor room. The center not only provided support around maternal health but also counselling services and advice around food and nutrition.
During flooding the area around Zafarabad bridge was closed and conditions were hazardous to travel in. Kotjai was the only center functional in this area.
After the 2022 floods hit the area, it was hard to provide care to the flood affected communities as there were few midwives and if they left the station shorthanded there was no way to predict how soon they could reach the family and if they would reach at all or not. Mahnoor worked day and nigh tor provide the services to the mothers and babies.
Mahnoor recalled that “Somehow the babies always want to come in at night. The number of births at night were double the number during the day, in most days there were three births during day time and six-seven at nighttime babies.”
For a midwife it is not a job it is a calling
“The best part of being the midwife working in these harsh conditions is a feeling of being part of something bigger. It is the real understanding of being part of a sisterhood! We respect each other without any boundaries!”
During 2022 floods, UNFP provided support to eight health centres in D.I Khan and Tank districts of KP province through deployment of midwives, lady health workers and other staff, provision of new born baby kit, clean delivery kits and other equipment to ensure that women in the flood affected areas receive uninterrupted Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) services.
