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KKH has a clinic manned by nurses to provide holistic and personalised service for expectant mothers
KK WOMEN’S and Children’s Hospital (KKH) aims to make the birth of a child a joyful and memorable experience for mothers and their families, with help from its three midwives, Ms Thilagamangai, Ms Julie Tay and Ms Ho Swee
Chan.
 Senior nurse clinician Ms Thilagamangai and nurse clinician Ms Tay run a weekly Friday afternoon clinic set up in March this year.
It provides routine antenatal checks for women with no medical problem and normal pregnancies, who are referred there by obstetricians.
The patients also get advice on how to cope with labour pains, breastfeeding and other aspects of postnatal care.
The clinic, which helps to upgrade the status of midwives, provides services and educational information. This eases the load for doctors to focus on highrisk pregnancies.
Ms Thilagamangai says: “We see and manage our patients and make decisions for them. “We discuss our decisions with the doctors. We are with patients from the start of their pregnancies, during and after their deliveries.”
Ms Tay adds: “Our patients are happy with our services. We have requests from patients who want to see us in the clinic.”
Patients who need help after discharge can turn to Ms Ho (above), 64, a senior midwife and grandmother providing postnatal home care services.
Already past her retirement age, the veteran with 39 years of experience continues working with new mothers. Says Ms Ho: “I am still healthy and I find joy in doing what I am doing.”
One of her former patients, Ms Hamimah Ahmat, says there should be more experienced, gentle and, understanding midwives like Ms Ho.
“They perform a national service for Singaporean women trying to increase our population,” says Ms Hamimah.
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