THE KERALA STORY

Goal - This committee works under Safe motherhood committee whose aim is to ensure the safety of each and every antenatal woman. The ultimate goal is to eliminate all preventable maternal deaths.

Introduction - Maternal near miss audit evaluate women who nearly died but survived severe pregnancy complications using WHO near miss criteria. Each survivor will be a lesson in Obstetrics. The aim of this

committee is to compile these near miss cases as well as discuss selected ones in a platform with practicing obstetricians and experts.

History

Following success of CRMD in 2019, KFOG under leadership of Dr V P Paily initiated audit of near miss cases . It is being carried forward by Safe Motherhood chairperson Dr B Prasannakumari and facilitated by state co- ordinator , and at district level by the captains and vice captains and RCH officer from each district.

Organisation

The committee is organised in such a way that every practicing obstetrician is a member of district team which is headed by Captain and 3 vice captains . District team is headed by the District collector who presides over district meetings convened by RCH officer.The meetings can be conducted either onoline or by offline mode. DMO will preside in the absence of Collector. KFOG represented by Captains in meetings . Duties of three vice captains are to help in reporting all maternal deaths to state and CRMD c- ordinator , reporting all near miss cases and to prepare minutes of meeting and send to state coordinator respectively. State team consists of KFOG president , KFOG Secretary, Safe Motherhood chairperson , MDMNSR co-ordinator , all captains , vice captains and RCH officers

Achievements and future plans

Under the previous state coordinator Dr Lakshmi Ammal this committee made near miss cases a powerful tool to teach practicing obstetricians. Post covid this committee revamped regular district meetings in all districts where selected cases are presented. Also from 2024 MDNMSR case connect webinars were organized with inputs from concerned inter department specialists and super specialists. This was strengthened when safe motherhood webinars started under leadership of Safe Motherhood chairperson. These meetings and webinars have become a great platform for sharing experiences, expert advices, sharing of guidelines and Protocols and delivering valuable learning points from each case discussed. But there is a long way to go.

As state coordinator the future strategy is to streamline meetings in all districts every month and ensuring maximum attendance for the same. All near miss cases have to be reported by constant motivation of captains and vice captains . Also compiling analysis of near miss cases with pearls of wisdom from each is another target.