Nurunnahar’s first daughter was 11 when she became pregnant for the second time. She was having her antenatal check-up done by a doctor at a nearby private clinic.
When her gestational age entered 34th week Nurunnahar went into labor pain. There wasn’t any government health facility around her home at Debra village of Nachmohal Union of Jhalokathi district. The doctor she had been visiting was not available and there wasn’t any health facility around that could provide delivery care. Her pain grew unbearable and it seemed she would not be able to endure it for much longer. So the local dai (traditional birth attendant) was called and the baby was delivered. But it was a preterm birth; the baby was weak and had low birth weight.
Hanif, Nurunnahar’s husband, realized that the newborn needed medical support, so he met Smrity Rani Sarkar, Assistant Health Inspector (AHI) of the locality. She saw the baby and referred her to the KMC corner of Nolchiti Upazilan Health Complex (UHC). The parents rushed to the UHC.
After investigating the baby, the Residential Medical Officer, Dr. Awosaful Islam Rasel got the newborn admitted into the KMC corner. The 3-day old baby, Hafsa, weighed only 2,000 gm. Senior Staff Nurse Geeta Rani Somaddar was assigned to take care of her. Hafsa started to improve and, after eight days at the KMC corner, she weighed 2200 gm. Before releasing Hafsa, Geeta Rani taught the mother how to practice KMC at home and asked her to visit the UHC for follow up.
At home Nurunnahar kept practicing KMC. One month later, when the mother visited the UHC for a follow up check-up, Hafsa’s weight was 3,500 gm and she looked healthy.
The KMC corner was opened at the Nolchity UHC in October 2016 with support from USAID’s MaMoni HSS project. “My daughter has received great care at this hospital. She is doing well now. I didn’t have to pay for the services,” says a content Nurunnahar.
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This case study is from USAID’s MaMoni Maternal and Newborn Care Strengthening Project (MNCSP)
This blog is part of the HNN collection, Telling Your Story: transforming care for small and sick newborns. If you have a story to share about transforming care for small and sick newborns, send a 300-600-word blog about your experience or research to info@healthynewbornnetwork.org.