Certified midwives sought to improve health services

Dewi Santoso, Jakarta

In a bid to improve health services for women, the government offered private midwives on Wednesday the chance to improve their skills and competence by participating in a special program.

Under the program called Bidan Delima (pomegranate midwives), private midwives are encouraged to pursue a diploma in midwifery and master knowledge on family planning, maternal and neonatal health, and steps to prevent infection.

In return, they would earn more than other midwives, said Indonesian Midwives Association (IBI) chairwoman Harni Koesno.

"We haven't discussed the amount, as we are still trying to set a standard for the fee," Harni said.

Each participant in the program would periodically pay a membership fee. Members would be entitled to state that they were certified by the IBI and the Ministry of Health on a sign board at their practice.

Aimed at providing high-quality health services during pregnancy and family planning advice, the program is jointly conducted by the health ministry, the IBI, the National Family Planning Board (BKKBN), the Sustaining Technical Achievements in Reproductive Health/Family Planning (STARH) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

STARH program officer Mayun Pudja said the program was targeting private midwives as 80 percent of them worked closely with the BKKBN.

The BKKBN registered around 80,000 midwives in 2004, 86 percent of them (68,772) work in villages.

Of the village midwives, 40 percent are private, 50 percent civil servants and the remaining 10 percent are those who work based on government contracts.

"Private midwives are the feasible solution to the country's quest for quality health services, as they are independent so that they can take any decision without having to go through a lengthy bureaucratic procedure," said Mayun.

Indonesia is among developing countries with a high maternal mortality rate.

STARH team leader Gary Lewis said midwives were the ones who provided primary health care.

"So, the answer is easy. I have no choice but to focus on midwives if I want to improve maternal and child care," Lewis said.

Asked about the possibility of poor villagers falling victim to the program, as they could not afford to pay the delima the higher fee, Harni said: "We will set a standard that is affordable to everybody."

The IBI expects the number of delima to reach 10,000 by the end of 2004 and 27,000 by 2005.