NTT needs 300 midwives

KUPANG: The head of the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Ministry of Health office has said that the province needs 300 more midwives to cover 15,000 needy villages.

Bambang Purnomo told The Jakarta Post Thursday that the lack of midwives is to blame for the high infant mortality rate, which is 911 per 100,000 live births, far above the national rate of 450 per 100,000 live births.

People are reluctant to go to medical personnel and prefer to consult traditional midwives, he said.

There are only 1,500 midwives serving the province's 3,4 million people, he added. (yac/ste)