Tribhuvan University (TU)'s Institute of Medicine (IoM) will run the Midwifery Studies as a separate diploma course from the upcoming academic year, said the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) today.

A three-year diploma course is being prepared by the Ministry of Health and Population with support from UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, Health Secretary Dr Pravin Mishra said in a programme organised today at the MoHP to mark the International Day of the Midwifery.

Dr Mishra said midwifery studies will begin from coming academic year along with the introduction of a long-term policy on the maternity workers.

Speaking at the programme, Minister for Health and Population Khaga Raj Adhikari said the ministry was introducing an Act to amend the existing policy on midwifery, and thereby promote midwifery services in the country.

“The 2006 government SBA policy clearly reflects MoHP’s position of new cadres of professional midwives as a crucial human resource for safe motherhood. UNFPA believes that this new cadre of professional midwives would play a complementary as well as supportive role to the existing cadre of skilled birth attendants and we advocate for the inclusion of the midwife within the revised organogram of the Ministry of Health and Population,” said UNFPA Nepal Representative Giulia Vallese.

Chairperson of the Nepal Nursing Council Daya Laxmi Joshi and President of Midwifery Society of Nepal Kiran Bajracharya shed light on the importance of midwifery service to minimize maternal and child mortality.

source:the himalayan times,5 may 2014