The floods have been destructive beyond imagination. The problems of relief and rehabilitation are immense. But the United Nations Family Population Fund has reported that there are an estimated 650,000 women who are expecting mothers, with 73,000 expected to deliver next month, in the flood-affected areas. While many of them have added the difficulty of displacement to their condition, some have remained at home. All have lost access to healthcare facilities, which have been washed away.
There is a need to bring these facilities back to their access on an emergency basis. Apart from prioritizing the reconstruction of the lost facilities, the question of staffing, always problematic even at the best of times, will arise. At this juncture, it can only be met by volunteer doctors and nurses, even if they not specialist obstetricians or obstetric nurses. One of the most important components of perinatal care is the examination, both physical and by ultrasound. These facilities must be provided. The areas facing the worst of the flood damage are also areas where perinatal care has made relatively small advances only recently. There is the danger of these advances being lost because of the floods.
The floods have been bad enough. But is it necessary to raise a generation that is flood-affected even before birth? That is what will happen if this problem is tossed to one side. This is working on the assumption that none of the expecting mothers experiences any complications, which is a statistical impossibility. A displaced persons’ camp is not at all the best place to handle an obstetric emergency. It should not be forgotten that one of the purposes of regular examinations is to predict such emergencies, and avert them if possible. Both examinations and emergencies require places where they can take place, as do the most normal deliveries, in which nothing goes wrong. The future must be sacrificed, which is what will happen if this problem is not given the attention it deserves.
