In yet another step towards reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in Tamil Nadu, another batch of 30 maternal and child health professionals are all set to be trained in various skill sets through an existing collaboration between the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine and Singapore Health Services and Singapore International Foundation.
Tamil Nadu’s MMR now stands at 45.5 per one lakh live births as per the State’s Health Management Information System. Singapore’s MMR was in single digits, and the aim of the collaboration was to adopt protocols to bring down maternal deaths in TN, according to T.S. Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.
In this line, phase II of the collaboration took off in February 2024 with a training of a batch of professionals. Now, the training for the second batch that included obstetricians and gynaecologists (OG), medical officers and staff nurses from both the Directorate of Medical Education and Research and Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services has taken off. This is basically taking a team approach by training not only doctors but also staff nurses, he said.
The workshop on enhancing maternal and child health services in the State was kicked off this week. This would serve as a training of trainers, he said, pointing out that a minimum of 30 persons from all directorates are being trained in various skill sets.
“The phase I of the collaborative initiative to reduce MMR in the State was conducted before COVID-19. The Singapore team is training our staff in various skill sets and obstetric emergencies such as Pregnancy-induced Hypertension, cord around the neck and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation. This is a training of trainers and will be followed up by district level training programmes for a year,” he said.
Like the Institute of Public Health in Poonamallee, the DPH has seven training institutes across the State, he said, adding: “We have put in place facilities for training at these institutes. Mannequins are available. The trainers have to follow a Standard Operating Procedure and train other staff members.”
Though the outcomes of the phase I of the trainings were not specifically measured yet, the official said that the State’s MMR has dropped from the previous 54 to 45.5 per one lakh live births now and the training and methodologies put in place could have served as one of the interventions that led to the reduction.
