Doctors explain dangers involved in home births

Chennai: Despite the crackdown on home births by the Directorate of Public Health following the death of a woman who lost her life after delivering child with the help of YouTube videos, it has emerged that more young couples show interest on such methods.

There is a section of public who want to go back to the roots for several reasons. City doctors ‘News Today’ spoke to feel increase in C-Sections and hefty hospital bills as reasons behind this trend. However, they opine home birthing is not the way out in any case. Even Naturopathy and Ayurveda practitioners recommended institutional delivery.

Dr Y Deepa from Aringnar Anna Government Hospital of Indian Medicine at Anna Nagar here, said,“We are not supposed to do any baby deliveries at home, no registered doctor will do that. There are rules to be followed. People should be aware that there are quacks who convince couples into home birthing. We only have remedies and practices like Yoga for a safe delivery. Our health regiment can reduce complications.”

Senior Consultant, Ayurveda Mobile Health care programme, Dr Achanta Lakshmipathi Research Centre, VHS Campus, Taramani, Dr Arun Ramachandran said, “Even with a monthly health regime during pregnancy period, doctors are always wary of any slight chances of complication. Trained doctors expect a minimum of five per cent complication during child delivery. With advanced technology, what is the need for a home delivery? There are a number of videos which show natural home birthing, but is there any video which guides viewers on what to do in case of a complication?”.

Dr Arun said that couples who make these videos and opt for home birthing could be doing it for fame. “It is not like they did not have access to hospitals.”

OLD, BUT TRAINED HANDS

Interestingly, ‘News Today’ found that families on the city outskirts relied on midwives to carry out home deliveries, give the first bath and traditional medicines.

One such example is an untrained midwife Kanniyammal Krishnan (74). She was in practice for the past 40 years and has helped four villages off ECR in child births.

She is speech impaired, but for decades she has been the go-to person for pregnancy complications.