Anaesthesia and Analgesia for Labour and Vaginal Delivery for safe Obstetric Practice

Abstract

Background: Labour pain is one of the most intense pains that a woman can experience in her life, worse than the pain of deep cut, caused by the distension and stretching of fibres from lower uterine segment, and tearing of tissues in the vagina and perineum in an effort to expelled the foetus. There are various non pharmacological and pharmacological (conventional) methods to alleviate the pain. Recently antispasmodic the buscopan (hyoscine) and drotavarine used liberally in obstetric practice to overcome the spasm at cervico-uterine plexus to promote cervical dilatation; hence mild to moderate reduction in pain and duration of labour. Neuraxial techniques are the gold standard for labour analgesia but cannot be performed on primary health centre (PHC)/ community health centre (CHC) due to non availability of qualified anaesthesiologist.