June 20, 2011, 20:29 Society

Moscow City Duma: issuing licenses for home births is premature

It is premature to raise the issue of licensing the activities of midwives who deliver births at home. This conclusion was reached by participants in parliamentary hearings in the Moscow City Duma on the topic: “On the state of obstetric care in the city of Moscow. Childbirth at home. Causes, consequences. Problems, solutions." According to official data, over the past five years, more than a thousand babies a year have been born at home in the capital. Supporters of home births who spoke at the meeting spoke about the shortcomings of state maternity hospitals, in particular, interference in the natural process of childbirth, poor psychological preparation of pregnant women and the aggressiveness of midwives. In their opinion, this is why some women decide to give birth at home. Representatives of communities that are actively involved in promoting natural childbirth proposed to legitimize their activities in the Concept for the development of healthcare in Moscow for 2012-2016, which is currently being developed.

In response, the chief physician of the Center for Family Planning and Reproduction, Mark Kurtser , cited statistics according to which up to 10 babies are admitted to medical facilities every year after attempting to give birth at home with life-threatening complications. According to the chairman of the commission on health and public health Lyudmila Stebenkova, women give birth at home because they are not satisfied with something in the state obstetrics system. However, specialists who perform such births violate the law and do not bear any responsibility for their actions. Moreover, according to her, a significant part of the “specialists” offering assistance with home births are simply charlatans and scammers. However, it is too early to introduce licensing of midwives who deliver births at home, as is done abroad, the deputy believes. According to her, in Holland, where this practice exists, “there is a completely different healthcare system and different realities.” The same Moscow traffic jams, in which an ambulance with the necessary equipment and a team of doctors called to help an alternative specialist get stuck, can cost the life of a woman and a baby. There is only one way out, the deputy believes: to make antenatal clinics and maternity hospitals more favorable for pregnant women.

In turn, representatives of official medicine argued at the hearings that opportunities for “alternative” childbirth (but in a medical facility) are also available in urban maternity hospitals. So, some of them have baths for those who want to give birth in water, and ropes for vertical childbirth. It is also possible to conduct some studies at home, in particular, remote cardiac monitoring. As a result of the hearings, it was decided to create a working group of representatives of official medicine and supporters of alternative childbirth to prepare proposals for the Concept for the development of healthcare in Moscow for 2012-2016. In particular, we may be talking about the possibility of having “your” midwife present during childbirth, whom the mother in labor trusts and who provided her with psychological assistance during pregnancy.

The capital's obstetric service in the capital includes 127 antenatal clinics, 33 maternity hospitals, 37 gynecological departments and more than a thousand sites where pregnant women are observed. More than 130 thousand births are performed in official medical institutions in Moscow.

Moscow City Duma: issuing licenses for home births is premature - Gazeta.Ru