Cake, Photos, and Checkups: Inside a Changing Maternity Care Routine
By Arunima Rajan
In a sector where comfort and convenience are often used as selling points, Kinder Women’s Hospital and Fertility Centre in Bangalore seems intent on pushing the envelope. Its maternity programme offers far more than the standard consultations and delivery room experience. New mothers receive regular postpartum checkups, access to structured mental health support, nutrition and yoga sessions, and personal touches like baby showers and photoshoots. Each of these elements is part of a larger strategy designed to make care genuinely women centred.
At the heart of this approach is Dr. Hira Mardi, senior consultant in obstetrics, gynaecology, and fertility. With experience spanning clinical practice and hospital management, Dr. Mardi oversees Kinder’s systems for tracking outcomes and maintaining standards that go beyond the industry norm.
Our conversation unfolded over email, with Dr. Mardi responding thoughtfully and in detail. She discussed Kinder’s approach to comprehensive care, the importance of data and feedback in shaping maternity services, and her hopes for the future of women’s health in India.
How does your hospital support women in the first six weeks after delivery? What kind of follow-up and counseling can new mothers expect?
Postpartum care includes regular checkups to monitor mother's physical and emotional health. This involves a checkup, one week after delivery along with counseling and ongoing care and medication management. For high-risk pregnant mothers, like those with eclampsia or pre-eclampsia, care is provided for at least 6 weeks with physical and teleconsultation until Blood pressure normalises. Lactation support offers assistance with breast feeding challenges and advice on maintaining a healthy feeding routine. Mental health support includes access to counseling and resource for managing postpartum mood disorders like depression and anxiety. We provide education, information on newborn care parenting tips and self-care strategies for new mothers at Kinder hospitals.
What are some of the holistic services you include in your maternity package? Can you walk us through offerings like nutrition, physiotherapy, lactation guidance, and mental health support?
In the maternity care package, we offer regular ultrasound scans and consultations along with complementary services, such as a mummy makeover photo shoot during the third trimester. At kinder we also provide baby photoshoots, baby shower events, cake cutting, car decoration while taking the baby home from the hospital and a gift hamper. Additionally, there is a complementary postpartum head or foot massage along with Ayurveda body massage for a fee.
We include yoga sessions, lactation guidance, nutrition workshops, Lamaze sessions and ball exercises for labor. Painless labor options like epidural anesthesia are also available during the process of labor.
How do you make these women-focused services accessible and affordable for families from different backgrounds?
We offer various package tailored for different income levels. For example, our Janani Mitra Scheme provides a comprehensive pregnancy package for the economically disadvantaged. This includes 12 gynae consultations throughout the pregnancy, 4 pregnancy scans, delivery options like normal delivery or c session, physiotherapy support, nutritional consultations, post-delivery childcare, and vaccinations. This covers pre-delivery, during the delivery and post-delivery care.
What does the design of your birthing suites look like in practice? How do you ensure comfort and involve partners during delivery?
Our birthing suits prioritise comfort and safety, allowing partners to be present during normal vaginal deliveries. This support enhances the experience for the mother. We offer excellent equipment and holistic care for pregnant woman to ensure the best environment for delivery. Our highly qualified team of obstetricians and gynecologists, fetal medicine specialists, and para-medical staff are experienced in handling complex pregnancies and deliveries.
What steps do you take to screen for and support mothers who may be dealing with postpartum depression or anxiety?
We have extended arms to support and address emotional health issues of our patients. We ensure that any new mother showing signs of depression or anxiety receives timely care by arranging consultations with qualified mental health professionals who visit the hospital to provide comprehensive medical and psychological support.
How does your hospital ensure adequate staffing and continuous training in midwifery, lactation and neonatal care?
At kinder hospitals we provide monthly training sessions for our nursing staff. Our ratios are 1:1 in level 1 ICU, 1:2 in level 3 ICU and 1:3 in level 2 ICU. In the ward we provide 1:5 staffs. We also offer webinars, workshops and seminars for nurses and staffs. Also, we send them to conferences for additional learning. We organise multiple continuing nursing education and continuing medical education sessions focusing on both clinical skills and soft skills.
What kinds of community outreach or antenatal workshops do you run to educate expectant mothers and involve their families?
We conduct various community outreach programmes and antenatal workshops to educate expectant mothers and involve family members. These include exercise sessions, yoga classes, lactation workshops, Lamaze classes and nutrition sessions especially during the third trimester. Our physiotherapist and nutritionist also visit clinics and the nearby PHCs to provide these sessions. We focus on teaching parents how to offer mental support during pregnancy and delivery.
Which indicators or metrics matter most to you when measuring how well your women-centric approach is working?
At Kinder Hospitals, we adopt a holistic, women-centric approach to maternity care, and track multiple key metrics to evaluate our success. These include Normal vs C-section delivery rates, effective monitoring and management from the first through the fourth trimester in both low-risk and high-risk pregnancies, VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarian) rates, golden hour breastfeeding initiation and monitoring, assistance during breastfeeding for inpatients and post-discharge assessment for new mothers, and screening for postpartum depression. We also prioritise maternal care through structured pre- and postnatal support, lactation counselling, and dedicated 4th trimester management. Additionally, we conduct collective patient feedback surveys to evaluate the quality of care provided and monitor and prioritize patients to reduce waiting times in OPD, ensuring high-quality care and improved patient satisfaction. Our NABH accreditation ensures that we adhere to the highest standards of patient safety and quality of care, enabling us to continuously improve our services.
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