The headline is a lot to unpack.West Bengal recently topped the list of underage marriage and childbirth.

A dubious statistics which made the new health minister also a doctor speak truths,which society is not ready to acknowledge.

Children as little as twelve /thirteen years are apparently in love with older adult men ,get married and give birth.POCSO anyone?A child becoming a mother and then a mother to multiple kids .All before they turn eighteen.Luckily the law is now doing its job ,making it easier for healthcare establishments to do due diligence.

When the mothers age, health,education,sensibility are all suspect, and they have the responsibilty of raising healthy ,productive citizens of tomorrow,the result is what you see today.This scenario was actively promoted by the last Government who looked the other way.

It’s a social-horror movie script.If you are an elite ,educated reader you won’t understand the magnitude of the problem immediately.But one day you will.

Because all Indian citizens share a future.

For a healthy future all must rise.If not together ,but slowly.But for that health comes first.

But many people lose that overview.

Now comes another part.That of child delivery.

A few  golden rule.Mother must be healthy for a healthy child.You must be under a qualified,kind doctor in the best healthcare setup , possible under your circumstances.

I am not an Obstetrician.But I am an Indian Doctor.One word Monitoring of Child birth is a must for all but more so for normal labour ,otherwise a complication can increase both maternal mortality  and Infant mortality,morbidity many fold.
Children born after obstructed labour may face facing lifelong problem.
Training nurses about monitoring is crucial and that’s not seen with the poor quality of training in most online  private/public setup.Check out the state of West Bengal government hospitals over last forteen years and you will understand the problem.Plus people want free.

Saying that, I will share a story about a different country.A realtive was in labour for almost thirty-six hours at a foreign hospital and then had a Emergency C-section under general anaesthesia at 2am at night.Why because they can’t choose Caeserian section until it fits certain criteria.Child in NICU for 10 days with sepsis.Mother in severe pain .All this,but  totally free.

I am not an Obstetrician but I am a clinician and the first rule is to do no harm.Policy making is a must ,but ground level should be assessed properly and in the background of Indian population size,education,awareness and other factors.

Its not a quick train midwife solution because then they will start home delivery again!

But before ending this post ,I will share a message of hope.Normal delivery with proper pain management and a good set up is wonderful in the right cases.

You need a healthy young mom who underwent antenatal care regularly.

A good hospital with a trained doctors team(team is crucial because one doctor cannot be available round the clock).

Good ,trained,kind nursing careAgain a team needed.

Your budget.

You get what you pay for.In a private set up ask about dedicated normal delivery set up .If your doctor doesn’t encourage you,it could be multiple reason,but very common is lack of trained help/ manpower and infrastructure.Your doctor too feels best when you go home smiling, with your little bundle of joy.That’s the reason your doctor ,trained for that speciality.Its hard work ,but the smiles make it worthwhile.

As medical students we all were trained to deliver babies normally.It was a miracle that we all survived that training and the women docs then managed to  became moms.Government hospitals are really overextended.But the good news is ,if the mother is a healthy adult ,it will be okay.

But there are corollaries to this :Infant health depends a lot on maternal age and maternal health.If you compromise one,the other will face hardships.The forest is healthy only if the trees are healthy and for that the soil is crucial.A soil weak in nutrition cant nurture health.

Take care of the girl child for a healthy future.

A social media post by Sanjeev Sanyal made me write about this.Feel free to share your stories in the comment below.

Writing this with Blogchatter Halfmarathon