Sima Bamri is a young midwife in Sistan and Baluchestan Province who treats women for free in Chabahar.
She has no official support, and at the same time, faces obstacles in her medical work.
Speaking about the painful conditions of women in Chabahar, 31-year-old Sima Bamri said, “Health conditions are not at all appropriate for women in Chabahar, and the great distance from the capital worsens the situation. No organization, not even Iranshahr Medical Sciences, takes action for the people” (The state-run ILNA news agency – May 16, 2020).
Relying only on herself, this young midwife set up her private clinic in Chabahar and has been treating women free of charge since 2016.
“Chabahar suffers from poor health conditions because people travel to neighboring countries, and there is a high rate of marginalization. This has led to an increase in the prevalence of diseases in women. The percentage of women’s infections is very high in Chabahar due to weather, health, and polygamy conditions. The medical sciences and the healthcare network should be supporting doctors, not harassing them,” she adds.
“I make time for my patients. In many cases, I have provided my low-income patients free consultations and medication. During the holidays, I respond to patients who come to Chabahar from remote villages, and I try to treat them as quickly as possible. In turn, this has led to an increase in the number of patients visiting, as well as an increase in harassment by the Chabahar Health Network.”
Regarding the situation in the province after the coronavirus outbreak, the young midwife stated, “Our situation has become much more difficult because masks, gloves, and alcohol have been scarce in Chabahar for some time. Instead of solving problem, the healthcare network has increased the number of inspectors, and I have been fined repeatedly.”
Earlier, in a press conference on Sunday, May 3, 2020, Shahla Khosravi, Deputy Health Minister at Midwifery Affairs, made a shocking announcement: “Since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, about 500 pregnant women have been hospitalized and 200 pregnant women have been treated on an outpatient basis” (The official IRNA news agency – May 3, 2020).
He also said that midwives have been infected with the coronavirus. Khosravi announced that 240 midwives in Iran have contracted Covid-19. This is at a time when Iran’s maternity hospitals are facing a severe shortage of midwives (The state-run Mehr news agency – May 03, 2020).
According to the head of the Iran’s Midwifery Association, Nahid Khodakarami, “In 2018, the Management and Planning Organization allocated 4,600 midwifery positions, but only half that number in the health system actually went to midwives. The other half was recruited for other occupations” (The state-run Asre-Iran news agency – May 6, 2020).
