Bangalore Birth Network

Journal Entries from A Pre- and Post-Natal Counselor's Experience at A BBMP Hospital Varsha Shridhar March 17 th This time, Dr. D.M is not the senior consultant, as she is off on leave. Instead, Dr. S. T, a more junior consultant, leads the way. Something about Dr. S.T tells me that she might be a little more judgmental in her attitude than D.M. Perhaps it is her statement that “some mothers are so bad that they don’t even bring their kids to the clinic for their regular immunizations”, a statement that makes me wince a bit. Dr. S.T has some good ideas, though. She starts off the clinic by introducing herself and the team. She tells moms the drill: get your baby weighed and measured here, get their shots there, then go visit the counselor (me) on that side of the room, and so on. She also spends a good ten minutes explaining the importance of washing hands before eating and cooking, and after using the toilet. Dr. S.T is Telugu, and speaks in Kannada. However, the major...

Journal Entries from A Pre- and Post-Natal Counselor's Experience at A BBMP Hospital Varsha Shridhar 3 rd March 2016 My first day at the BBMP Urban Primary Healthcare Center in Koramangala. I get there around 11am, by which time the clinic in in full swing. Babies are being measured, weighed and injected with whatever shots are deemed appropriate, mothers are chatting, the attenders in their blue sarees are ordering people about… a typical scene in a government hospital. I find my contact, Dr. D.M, inside one of the consulting rooms. She is marvelously efficient - within a few minutes, I have a spot at one corner of her clinic, a set of chairs around me, and the attender is leading in my first few patients. I am an antenatal and postnatal counselor. This means I talk to pregnant moms and new mothers about their worries and concerns, I give them advice on nutrition, I counsel them on how to take care of themselves, their babies and their families. I speak to the fam...