We introduced 5 new & unique concepts in this hospital & institute.
- Pairing Mother & Child: This is a new concept & a change in the trend of hospital settings. The hospitals are a general hospital (taking care of all type of patients), children hospital (taking care of children only) or women hospital (taking care of women only). For the first time, we have paired & focused on the Mother & Child together. They are part & parcel of each other. A healthy mother will bring up healthy children & Healthy children will be healthy mothers & fathers of tomorrow. So, there is a dire need of a place where both mother & child can be taken care of as a one entity. We plan to fulfill this long deserved & underserved need of the people.
- Preventive Strategy: Hospitals are made to treat the patients. They focus only on the disease of the patient sinside the hospital. They least bother why the patients are getting these diseases. They do not try to look outside the hospital that how we can decrease the disease burden coming to the hospital. For the first time, we are focusing on the community as well. We have a well-planned, well-tested & proven strategy through our CATCH program. We have establish a preventive strategy in the community so that there is less & less number of patients with the diseases, especially the communicable & preventable diseases. The hospital will have to spend less on such patients & the resources will be available for other patients.
- Paperless: The world is going paperless in their systems & hospitals, but we are yet far behind to adopt the new technology. We are first again in the area to pace with the world and adopt the paperless model of working and using Electronic Medical Record.
- Research with Indigenous Solutions: This is again a neglected & untouched area by our hospitals. Presently we are benefitting from foreign research. The solutions provided by the foreign research may not be culturally or otherwise acceptable to our people. The I-MACCA plans to be a stronghold of research. We are committed to the research that will provide the indogenous solutions to our populations & communities. These solutions will be according to our beliefs, culture & geography.
- Free Yet State of the Art Care: There is usually a compromise, once it comes to the care of people that is to be provided free. We plan to provide the best of the environment, consultations, medicines & services to people without any charges. They will get the same or better care that a rich person can get from somewhere else by spending a lot of money. We hope to have a level of services that the affordable class also prefers to come here.
Initially, we selected the leading OBS/GYN’s of Multan to attend a luncheon about the benefits of breastfeeding and IMMAN program. Here, we advocated for breastfeeding in a 30-minute presentation. It included the topics
- Introduction of the IMMAN
- The value of breastfeeding for the child, mother and society
- The situational analysis of breastfeeding/ exclusive breastfeeding
- The Pakistani scenario and the need for breastfeeding
- The way Forward—- an interactive discussion for Future Action Plan.
The OB/GYN’s welcomed the information and plans for the future very warmly. To help them with the task of sending their patients to our mother-education sessions we provided them with several copies of coupons for the mothers to attend the breastfeeding class. These coupons had the information about venue, date & time of the seminar. The counter foil of the coupon had to be filled out by the gynecologist with the contact information of the expectant mother. We requested that in each IMMAN seminar only those mothers be sent who are expected to deliver in the next couple of months.
We invited mothers for the breast-feeding seminars by advertising through print and electronic media also.
Another objective of IMMAN was to introduce mothers to pediatricians prior to the birth of their baby. We hoped that this interaction will improve their post-partum care and establish a relationship that is supportive of breastfeeding.
The following topics are covered for the IMMAN seminar for mothers;
- Introduction of IMMAN
- Benefits of Breast feeding to society, family, Mother and Baby
- How and from where the milk comes? What increases the milk production and what decreases it.
- The right starts and position for mother. The right position of baby and correct attachment.
- How to feed after cesarean section? What should working women do?
- What mothers should eat/ drink before and after delivery?
- How to tell if mother’s milk is sufficient
- Hurdles for Exclusive Brest Feeding— Myths and fears of mothers
The obstetricians were involved in this initiative. They referred the expectant mothers on a specific day where pediatricians gave 6 lectures to motivate the need for breastfeeding, the anatomy & physiology of lactation, correct method of latching and attachment were taught. There was a special talk on how to exclusively breastfeed after C-section delivery.
We conduct these seminars every month. The program has been applauded by the public, mothers and gynecologists, alike.
The program was well applauded by the American academy of Pediatrics- Section on breast-feeding. The full-page report was published in their newsletter. This can be seen on the following link http://www.aap.org/breastfeeding/files/pdf/winter09newsletter.pdf. It is appended with the report.