With a view of reducing further infant mortality rates, two non-government organizations have partnered to upgrade the skills of 22 nurses in handling complicated deliveries in a bid to ensure birth of healthy babies.

The two-day training which took place at Nyamata hospital had participants from 11 health centres in Bugesera district and was organized by Health Development Initiative (HDI) and Ujama Medical Connections (UMC).

According to the Executive Director of HDI, Aphodis Kagaba, the aim of the hands-on training is basically to enable nurses deal with some problems at their respective health centres which otherwise would be referred to the district hospital.

"Referring some of these issues to district hospitals takes time yet nurses can handle such cases after acquiring relevant training.

"In the long run improved neo-natal health care will curb infant mortality rates which is a strong step towards attaining Millennium Development Goals 4,” Kagaba told The New Times.

Dr. Pam Silverstein, a medical expert with UMC, also concurred that after this training, nurses will not transport most of the delivery cases to district hospitals adding that this will not only save lives of babies, but also those of mothers.

According to Marie Gorretti Irahambaye, a nurse at Rilima Health Centre, dealing with some of these common delivery problems has been a challenge, considering that there are very few ambulances to transport mothers to district hospitals.

"We are happy to acquire different techniques that will enable us better perform our work. "It is now possible to handle cases like when a baby’s body gets stuck inside the mother’s womb despite the fact that the head is out already,” Irahambaye noted.

Officials from HDI also noted that a mobile clinic is set to be introduced next year to increase access to high quality medical services to people in the rural areas.

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