Speaker：Ms. Alice Sham (Hong Kong College of Midwives)
Paper Title: Midwives and the Evolution of Maternity Services in Hong Kong and Tung Wah Group of Hospitals

Abstract：

Midwives are the professionals providing care to childbearing women during pregnancy, labor and birth, the postpartum period, and between pregnancies. The care extends to the newborn, support the mother with breastfeeding, birth control, health education and well-woman health care. The development of Midwifery profession in the history of Hong Kong gives a remarkable account of contributions by midwives to the maternity services in Hong Kong. Over the decades, the development in midwifery education and statutory regulation of the profession reflected the progression of the healthcare system in Hong Kong. However, the changes in healthcare service models also marked the decline in the roles of midwives from an independent practitioners in the early days of healthcare to an obstetrics nurses assisting Obstetricians under the rapid advances in medical technologies and the increasing applications in maternity services in the 60s’; and the reclaim of independent role of midwives since 90s’. These milestones are recorded in the history of more than 740,000 deliveries in Kwong Wah Hospital and 890,000 deliveries in the 3 hospitals of TWGHs since 1937 where most of the care and deliveries are conducted by midwives.