Health experts discuss high risk pregnancy

Health experts from Obstetrics and Gynaecology discussed upgrades on pregnancy related issues and challenges of handling difficult cases at a two-day ‘International Conference on High Risk Pregnancy’. The conference opened under the auspices of Dr Khalid al Mushekhi, Director-General of Health Service in Dhofar, on Wednesday. Two experts, who joined the conference from London, UK, were Edwin Chandraharan, Consultant Obstetrics and Gynecology at St George’s Hospital and Dr Susanna Pereira, Women and Childbirth Consultant, Kingston Hospital. Other participants included doctors and nurses working in the Obstetrics and Gynecology departments of the healthcare centres located in Dhofar. Speaking on the importance of the conference, Dr Ahmed Salem Qaitun, Assistant Director of Medical Affairs, said: “Medical science is a constantly changing science due to researches and new inventions. It heralds new, easy and more dependable methods for patients’ safety. “So such forums help the people working in the health sector to know what is new and how it can be adopted in the system. This event is really very important for the doctors and nurses working in the Obstetrics and Gynecology departments.” “This is an opportunity for us to share knowledge and learn from the experiences of national and international experts. The learning would add value to child and mother safety and all sorts for high risk pregnancies,” he said. Dr Veena Paliwal, Head of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at Sultan Qaboos Hospital, spoke about the health status of gynecology and obstetrics at the Sultan Qaboos Hospital and said the conference was hugely successful in introducing many new aspects of difficult natural births through the use of birth aids. During the two days, a number of lectures were held on how to deal with cases of difficult cesarean sections and critical cases of childbirth. A presentation showing the role of practical leaders in improving the outcomes of childbirth and the essentials of natural surgical delivery was also made during the conference. The conference discussed how to monitor the condition of the fetus during childbirth and the mechanism of dealing with the situation in the event of any emergency and also training the staff on alternatives to help the fetus in the event of difficulty of natural delivery. The conference included lectures and discussions on cases related to fetal pulse monitoring, which ensures safety of mother and child by updating the knowledge of doctors and nurses. “Such knowledge sharing helps in reducing unnecessary medical interventions, clinical leadership, risk management, and ultimately natural birth,” said a participant.