Changes advocated in N.Z. midwifery

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 5

Changes advocated in N.Z. midwifery

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Sept, 28.

New Zealand midwives should be taught to play a more active role in the field of family planning, an Auckland obstetrician believes.

Mr B. Faris, former medical superintendent of St Helens Hospital, will recommend this step in his capacity as a member of the maternity services committee of the Board of Health. He will also urge that the period of midwifery training be extended from the present six months to at least nine months, and preferably a year.

Mr Faris returned today after spending five weeks in London as a member of an international joint study group of 14 obstetricians and midwives. QUEEN’S PHYSICIAN The study group, financed initially by a $500,000 grant from the United States Agency for International Development, has been set up to investigate maternity and infant-care problems, particularly those in the developing countries. Its chairman is Sir John Peel, formerly the Queen’s physician. Mr Faris said that there was full agreement among members of the group that population control was the major issue governing the

planning of maternal and health services in all countries.

Because of the world-w’ide doctor shortage, the role of the midwife was of paramount importance in popula-tion-control measures. Developing countries would be urged to train their midwifes in such things as prescribing the contraceptive pill and the insertion of intra-uterine devices.

In countries, such as New Zealand, where medical advice was available, one could not envisage midwives doing such things because the fitting of an intra-uterine device, for instance, was riot without risk, Mr Faris said.

In developing countries, it was a matter of the greatest good for the greatest number, and one has to accept the very Small risk that might be entailed.

In New Zealand, the role of midwives ih family planning should be to help channel women to birth-control clinics or back to their doctor. They should also help with counselling on familyplanning problems, Mr Faris said.

“We will be giving more emphasis to this in training midwives in future, particularly if the duration of the course is extended,” he said. Another important result of extending the training course for midwives to nine months or a year Would be the achieving of reciprocity with Britain. It was highly detrimental that New Zealand midwives, though very

well trained as far as quality was concerned, did not have sufficient practical training experience to enable them to practise in the United Kingdom.

A longer training period would also be necessary if New Zealand was to meet the standards laid down by the International Confederation of Mid Wives.

Mr Faris said the study group would meet again in about a year’s time. Meanwhile, it would give priority to the investigation of maternity and infant-care problems in Central Africa and West Africa, and Central and Latin America.

A study of the situation in Oceania, including New Zealand, was planned later.