(a) whether the Government proposes to associate community midwives as part
of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM);
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has any plan to train community midwives for
medically safe non-institutional deliveries; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HEALTH & FAMILY WELFARE(SHRI SUDIP BANDYOPADHYAY)
(a) to (d): Government of India has taken the initiative to ensure universal coverage of all births with
skilled attendance both in the institutions and in the community. A skilled birth attendant (SBA) refers
exclusively to those health personnel proficient in midwifery, i.e. Doctors, Nurses and Auxillary Nurse Midwives(ANMs) who have been trained to be proficient in the skills necessary to manage normal deliveries and diagnose,
manage or refer complications.
However, community midwives (Community Dai) cannot be trained as skilled birth attendants; As such, they are not
envisaged as primary providers of delivery care.
However, the flexibility has been given to States to train them to fulfil roles as a “community resourceâ€
e.g. as helper to ANM in providing ante-natal, intra-natal and post-natal care to pregnant women which includes
deliveries at Sub-Centres and at home; in birth preparedness, as a birth companion; arranging referral
transport/ escorting the pregnant woman to the institutions for delivery, assisting in home-based newborn care,
reporting births and deaths of neonates, infants and mothers etc., particularly in villages where there is no ASHA.