Story from the Field
By Naresh Newar in Khotang & Okhaldhunga
As the chief of the Dhitung ward of Halesi rural municipality in Khotang district, Prithvi feels proud that one of his greatest achievements as the Ward Chair has been transforming the birthing center of the Dhitung Health Post into a high-quality maternal health facility. He says that this will always be his ward’s legacy. It was completed primarily due to the local government’s meaningful partnership with One Heart Worldwide (OHW).
“This achievement was a result of our local government’s partnership with One Heart Worldwide. This is the kind of partnership that will truly help local governments develop programs to benefit our underserved rural community,” says Prithvi.
He recalls how he was immediately keen when OHW first proposed their partnership for renovating the birthing center of his ward’s health post four years ago. Prior to OHW’s arrival, the health post was an old, dilapidated building. The ward office had been planning to rebuild the whole structure, but there were budget constraints and the reconstruction expenses were too high.
The birthing center was under-equipped and poorly maintained. All the work related to maternity services such as delivery, antenatal (ANC), and postnatal (PNC) care was done in a single room. Pregnant women and new mothers had no privacy. Additionally, the electric supply was irregular. The health post only had a low-cost ordinary solar device to use during power outages, but that barely helped during the day and was completely useless when the nurses had to do birth deliveries at night.
The nurses lacked proper maternity-related equipment and kits, which affected both their morale and confidence. They also didn’t have specialized training to deal with complications during prolonged labor and postpartum periods which meant that the team frequently had to send referrals to district or city hospitals to manage the complicated cases.
The rooms were dark and lacked a proper washroom and toilet. The local community didn’t want to visit this health post for institutional deliveries due to the lack of resources. Instead, they went to hospitals in the cities and towns. Unfortunately, the most impoverished families who couldn’t afford the expenses to travel to the city were forced to do home birth deliveries, putting them at higher risks of pregnancy-related complications.
The government’s cash incentives given to women to visit the health post for ANC and PNC care weren’t sufficient to motivate them to travel to the birthing center.
“Now, you can witness for yourself the transformation of our health post, especially the birthing center. We have outstanding rooms and better structures that look very impressive. The flow of patients has increased substantially. That was all a result of our partnership with OHW,” Prithvi told us during our visit.
We took a tour of the birthing center, and the changes were just as impressive as he had described. As soon as we entered the rooms at the birthing center, we could feel such a positive environment. The structures were well constructed with tiled floors and lit-up ceilings. The rooms felt cozy and had sufficient space to place all the essential equipment, kits, tools, beds, medicine cabinets, and washing room. There is a separate maternity room with an immaculate toilet in close proximity to ensure that pregnant mothers were the only ones using it.
The orange-colored walls created a cheerful ambiance inside the facility. Nurses have their own private workspace to counsel the mothers during both ANC and PNC visits. The garden located outside of the facility was well-maintained with a shaded sitting place to comfort the waiting mothers and their relatives if there is a long queue for their appointments with the nurses and other health staff. Since the renovation, the health post has seen an increasing number of patients, with many of them traveling for over 5-8 hours to seek medical support, advice, counseling, or attending general health check-ups.
Prithvi explains how the partnership with OHW has opened doors in the local community to build a good reputation. They have been able to build trust and confidence with the community because of the health post renovations. He shared that locals visited the health post with little enthusiasm in the past, but that has changed now.
“It is indeed a great achievement to have a hospital-like set-up in such a remote area. The support for renovation, medical equipment, and well-trained nurses is the result of a true partnership, and we want to thank OHW for their valuable contribution,” says Rohit, who works as Dhitung Health Post In-Charge.
He recalled how the morale among the nurses and other health staff was relatively low before the birthing center was renovated. Despite their endless endeavors and hard work, his team could not perform their duties due to the lack of proper maternity equipment, beds, working space, and other resources needed to provide quality services.
“Today, I am happy to see high morale among our staff. Our team has managed many pregnancy-related complications. We’ve been able to serve the community better, and now, families are highly motivated about institutional deliveries,” says Rohit.
