“Fourteen years spent as a midwife, I have a well tested method - all women in labor will be satisfied if they are treated with warmth, and then a sense of trust will emerge. As well as kind words, I also bring them tea and water and make sure that every woman in our labor ward feels safe like home”.
As a child, Meerim Suranbay kyzy was very much interested in learning English, but after graduating from the ninth grade she was enrolled into the medical college on the advice of her sister, a computer programmer, who kept washing and ironing Meerim's medical gowns whole first year of her study.
After the second year of her studies, Meerim got an internship at the Osh Regional Clinical Hospital, where her love for medicine grew: ‘Here I realized that I had made the right choice, and from that day on all my attention was focused on medicine. To this day I am grateful to my sister's advice, because in this profession I found true friends and a professional team of like-minded people. No matter what task we face, we will definitely fulfill it. And thanks to my knowledge of English, I had no difficulties with learning program software and using a computer in my work’.
As in all maternity hospitals, Meerim used to fill out the labor history on paper and often stayed at work even after the end of her shift to fill it out by hand. But with the introduction of the electronic card of the patient, which includes the patient's admission, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up, Meerim, a midwife, and all her colleagues in Kyrgyzstan will be able to improve digital medical record keeping for quality based maternal and newborn health management.
“It was difficult for us at first when we just started digitizing midwifery records and notes, but now we can fill everything in from a computer, tablet or even from our mobile phones. There used to be such a clear divide between professions, but now even doctors are becoming IT specialists of sorts! I understand and welcome this demand of the current times, as it helps our work and increases digital literacy among my colleagues”.
As Meerim shared, by entering only the PIN of the woman in labor in the reception department of the maternity unit, her electronic card will display all her previous visits to various doctors, their conclusions and treatment. In other words, the whole picture of a woman's health can be seen at a glance, which can simplify the work of the reception department.
“The time freed up from clerical paper work we can use to spend more time with women in the labor ward. What do women need during labor? They need our support. Pregnant women are afraid and don't want to stay alone, but when I am with them, they feel calmer and more at ease, and the labor is easier in such conditions. Every woman in labor I perceive as my own sister, I understand that the only thing she wants is to safely cuddle her newborn, whom she has been carrying for nine months. At such moments, I can truly feel her complete trust in me,’ Meerim shares her sincere thoughts.
Emerging digitalisation will make working in maternity hospitals much easier, but the greatest value for Meerim is the mutual respect and support of her colleagues: “There has never been any shame in asking for help - I help my younger colleagues and the elder midwives share their valuable experience with me. I realize that over time robots will replace the functions of many professionals, but I don't think ten robots working together can compare to the love and care of one midwife”.
Meerim and her colleagues often received job offers from private clinics, but they did not accept and stayed working at the Osh Regional Clinical Hospital: ‘We all know that private organizations would have provided us with more money, stable and fixed working hours. But my work has shaped me, it is where I became the Meerim I am today. I am always supported by the faith of my colleagues, trust of my patients, and the love for my work. It can be called Motherland love, can't it? And whenever I walk around the city with my husband, very often women stop me and greet me with the warm words ‘You remember me, you helped me to deliver my child, don't you?’.
Meerim's husband is happy to hear such words, because he always supports her, as he knows his wife’s commitment and responsibility: “He fully understands that at home we are married with three children, but at my work in the maternity hospital I become a second mum to many new citizens of Kyrgyzstan every day”.
Meerim Suranbay kyzy together with other obstetricians, midwives, neonatologists and neonatal nurses actively participated in the training to improve their knowledge and skills on technical and clinical aspects of completing and using the electronic card of the patient , which included obstetric and neonatal parts. Electronic cards of the patient are promoted in Kyrgyzstan as means to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare systems through midwives’ engagement.
During the months of April and May 2024, the processes of training and implementation of the electronic card of the patient are taking place in five obstetric institutions at secondary and the tertiary level, namely Osh Interregional United Clinical Hospital, Jalal-Abad United Clinical Hospital, Issyk-Kul and Chui Regional United Hospitals and the Perinatal Centre of the National Centre for Maternal and Child Health in Bishkek.
Training and implementation of electronic card of the patient are conducted within the framework of the UN South-South Cooperation project aimed at reducing preventable maternal morbidity through access to quality health services through the use of obstetric surveillance response system and teleconsultation in maternity hospitals. The project is supported and implemented by the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic and the UN Population Fund.
