DELMA Stanley Bata, a midwife and Australia Awards alumna, says you never know that what you do could inspire someone to become like you.
When Bata was a child, she loved watching closely how health workers treated patients and saved lives whenever she went to a health facility with her family.
This inspired her to become a nurse and then a midwife.
More than 20 years ago, Bata began her educational journey at Wairiki village’s Primary school in the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain.
The determination to achieve her dream drove her to work hard and succeed throughout her studies.
She earned a diploma in general nursing from the St Mary’s School of Nursing in Vunapope with an Australia Awards scholarship.
Delma’s first job was working in the theatre at the West New Britain Provincial Hospital.
Seeing mothers who faced complications in giving birth and going for operations motivated her to pursue a qualification in midwifery.
After working for five years, she applied for an Australia Awards PNG Scholarship and successfully completed a bachelor of midwifery from the Pacific Adventist University.
For Bata, studying at a private university was an expensive undertaking.
“The scholarship meant so much to me as it supported me in earning my qualification,” she said.
“The course motivated me and shaped me to become a better nurse and midwife.”
Bata worked for another three years in the hospital’s labour ward as a midwife, serving an average of 10 mothers coming for delivery in each shift.
One night, she was working alone and saved a mother and a baby who almost lost their lives.
“The mother was in pain, I attended to her while giving the baby oxygen and saved both of them,” she said.
Bata loves her job as a midwife, but she explained that the most difficult thing was getting people to understand the importance and benefits of family planning.
TheNational/PNGhealthNews
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