NMA Decries Activities Of Traditional Birth Attendants

The activities of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs), have been identified as factors militating against modern child delivery practices in Nigeria.

Chairman of Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) in Rivers State, Dr. Bonas Harry, stated this in a chat with newsmen in his office in Port Harcourt, recently.

Dr. Harry, therefore, urged pregnant women to avoid traditional birth attendants, insisting that they have no place in modern medicine, especially obstetrics and gynaecology.

He disclosed that maternal mortality, which was one of the reasons for the approval of the traditional birth attendants by previous administrations, has not yielded the expected result because the practitioners do not have basic knowledge of hygiene.

“The overall maternal mortality, which was what governments, then, were trying to reduce, did not actually change, some of them will deliver a baby and may use rusted blade, unsterilised materials to cut the umbilical cords, thereby causing negotiated tetanus”, he said.

He, thus advocated for the training of more nurses and midwives who would attend to pregnant women in rural areas, stressing that TBAs have no scientific knowledge of birthing and that they do not know their limits.

Also speaking on the issue, a family medicine physician in Port Harcourt,  Dr. Okechukwu Chukwuka, said traditional birth attendants are still useful in the rural communities in order to fill the gap created by inadequate midwives to assist pregnant women in the rural areas during labour.

He, however, stressed the need for the training of the practitioners so as to know their limits.

“I would prefer that they are still there in that they are still useful to rural women because we do not have enough trained midwives in the villages.

They will be more useful if they received some training, that will give them information when to stop and seek superior assistance,” he said.