ABU DHABI //Guidelines that are to take effect by July require every hospital and clinic in Abu Dhabi that treats pregnant women to schedule a series of 10 appointments with first-time mothers, and seven with women who have already had children.
Health chiefs say the standardised antenatal programme will improve the quality of care in the emirate.
The Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (Haad) is giving hospitals and clinics six months to comply with the new system.
Doctors and midwives in the capital agree that the lack of a single, clear system has resulted in scores of pregnant women receiving inadequate treatment.
"Sadly, we do see a lot of referrals where the care has not been up to what it should be," said Dr Gowri Ramanathan, a foetal medicine specialist and consultant obstetric gynaecologist at Corniche Hospital.
The appointments, led by midwives or obstetricians, are meant to ensure that women are fully prepared to deliver, said Dr Jennifer Moore, the section head of family and school health at Haad.
It has not yet been determined whether the guidelines will require the hiring of additional staff.
There were 31,691 births in Abu Dhabi last year, up 8 per cent from last year's 29,327.
Dr Moore said that while most hospitals and clinics offer exemplary care, standardising the guidelines will iron out any weaknesses.
"A woman who is pregnant needs to be able to trust that the care she's getting at any healthcare facility is the best," she said. "We found that although many institutions are providing excellent antenatal care, this is not always the case. The standard is to ensure that all healthcare facilities that offer antenatal offer a best-practice approach."
Noreen Healy, the head of Al Ain Cromwell Hospital's nursing department, has seen her fair share of patients turn up to the hospital unprepared to give birth.
"Women should be seen every week in their last trimester, from 36 weeks to 41 weeks. Here, they tend not to. I find sometimes a woman might be seen at 36 weeks and next time she comes it is because she is due to give birth," Mrs Healy said.
She said that though a woman might think she is past the stage of developing complications in the last few weeks of gestation, that is not necessarily the case.
"Maybe the placenta isn't going to work as efficiently; maybe the growth isn't going to be as good as one would expect; maybe their blood pressure is going to go up. Something could be going wrong."
Another worry for mothers-to-be is that doctors might not be able to spend an adequate amount of time with them.
"The problem is, antenatal is so busy in every hospital and your appointment is so short and so rushed. They are more worried about whether your blood pressure is fine and whether the baby is fine than they are about giving you information," said one mother and midwife who asked to remain anonymous.
Each session with a doctor should last 20 to 30 minutes, said another mother-to-be, who is due to give birth in April.
Under the new regulations, Dr Moore said, specific topics should be discussed at certain stages of the pregnancy and no doctor-patient session should leave women with unanswered questions.
For other women, the worry lies with in whether one doctor will oversee their appointments and whether the midwife or obstetrician supporting them will be the one to deliver their child.
"Continuity of care is very important," Dr Moore said. "It is important for a doctor to know the results of a patient's previous antenatal visits. If a woman would like to have the same physician throughout the antenatal period, we encourage her to choose a healthcare facility that offers this service."
Mums-to-be who have their baby delivered by someone other than the obstetrician they see for their antenatal care will also have their cases handled efficiently, she added.
Mrs Healy said addressing problems with the current system will help to educate expectant mothers, in turn leading to a reduction in the number of complicated births.
"The biggest issue is education. Women need to know what happens to their body during pregnancy."
Many pregnant women in Abu Dhabi lack even the most basic information, said one mother.
"There are women here who have no idea at all. No idea of where to go, for a start, and no idea of what to ask for so they end up researching on the internet," one said.
Said another, "A standardised programme is a really good idea, because then you'll have faith that wherever you go the care will be the same. There's a big lack of antenatal care here and we are all for a new system."
zalhassani@thenational.ae
Company%20profile
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SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Thank You for Banking with Us
Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
RESULT
Fifth ODI, at Headingley
England 351/9
Pakistan 297
England win by 54 runs (win series 4-0)
KLOPP%20AT%20LIVERPOOL
%3Cp%3EYears%3A%20October%202015%20-%20June%202024%3Cbr%3ETotal%20games%3A%20491%3Cbr%3EWin%20percentage%3A%2060.9%25%3Cbr%3EMajor%20trophies%3A%206%20(Premier%20League%20x%201%2C%20Champions%20League%20x%201%2C%20FA%20Cup%20x%201%2C%20League%20Cup%20x%202%2C%20Fifa%20Club%20World%20Cup%20x1)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Results
2.30pm: Dubai Creek Tower – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (Dirt) 1,200m; Winner: Marmara Xm, Gary Sanchez (jockey), Abdelkhir Adam (trainer)
3pm: Al Yasmeen – Maiden (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 1,700m; Winner: AS Hajez, Jesus Rosales, Khalifa Al Neyadi
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4.30pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup – Handicap (TB) Dh200,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: George Villiers, Antonio Fresu, Bhupat Seemar
5pm: Palma Spring – Handicap (PA) Dh40,000 (D) 2,000m; Winner: Es Abu Mousa, Antonio Fresu, Abubakar Daud
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
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Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
Profile Periscope Media
Founder: Smeetha Ghosh, one co-founder (anonymous)
Launch year: 2020
Employees: four – plans to add another 10 by July 2021
Financing stage: $250,000 bootstrap funding, approaching VC firms this year
Investors: Co-founders
UAE%20SQUAD
%3Cp%3EMuhammad%20Waseem%20(captain)%2C%20Aayan%20Khan%2C%20Aryan%20Lakra%2C%20Ashwanth%20Valthapa%2C%20Asif%20Khan%2C%20Aryansh%20Sharma%2C%20CP%20Rizwaan%2C%20Hazrat%20Billal%2C%20Junaid%20Siddique%2C%20Karthik%20Meiyappan%2C%20Rohan%20Mustafa%2C%20Vriitya%20Aravind%2C%20Zahoor%20Khan%20and%20Zawar%20Farid.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
The%20Roundup
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
AIDA%20RETURNS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECarol%20Mansour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAida%20Abboud%2C%20Carol%20Mansour%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5.%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
Company%20Profile
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Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
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Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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'Gold'
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5