Kathmandu, December 27

With the aim to incorporate recent policy and technical advancement, Family Welfare Division has updated clinical protocols on reproductive health.

Dissemination of information on reproductive health clinical protocol was done amidst an event held in the capital today.

The protocol designed for medical officers, staff nurses/ANMs and paramedics includes nine components — family planning, safe motherhood, newborn care, sexually transmitted infections/HIV/AIDS, adolescent sexual and reproductive health, prevention and management of infertility, safe abortion service, gynaecological morbidity and gender-based violence.

The protocol provides details on what health practitioners should do when a patient visits the health centre with reproductive health problems. Protocol presented in texts, flow charts and pictures will guide healthcare practitioners to provide quality reproductive healthcare services.

The protocol helps health practitioners for accurate diagnosis, examination and treatment of patients as it instructs the health practitioners in preparing summary of the case, explains about treatment for the health problems and also explains in detail about the need for referral and process of referral to the patients and his/her family.

“The objectives of the protocol are to improve the quality of reproductive health care for women, men, children and adolescents through evidence-based protocol, to standardise reproductive health care at different levels of healthcare and enhance the level of performance to ensure quality, to improve efficiency and better utilisation of service and to instil culture of accountability in the health system,” said Dr Punya Paudel, chief of the safe motherhood programme at Family Health Division.

“The new clinical protocol is developed as a guide for health workers to deliver quality reproductive service in Nepal and will be made accessible for all across the country,” said Dr Bhim Singh Tinkari, director of Family Health Division.