Obstetrics is the branch of medicine and surgery, in which it concerns childbirth and midwifery. So the medical doctor who works in this branch deals with the wellbeing of the pregnant mom as well as the moment after the babies were delivered. There are lots of things that an obstetrician would do. For example, for prenatal care, the doctors would do ultrasound, complete blood count and genetic screen. The doctor needs to check the baby’s condition inside the mom’s belly.
History of obstetrics
Before the 18th century, men were strictly prohibited from providing prenatal care to pregnant women in Europe. When it is time to deliver a baby, the mother would invite close female family and friends to her house so that she would have company. Midwives with extensive training handled all aspects of the labor and delivery process. The availability of doctors and surgeons was extremely uncommon, and calling a surgeon was a very last option to do if only the mom had complications during the birth. And then slowly at the end of the 18th century, medical doctors started to understand the anatomy of the reproductive organs in the uterus. Years by years, the technology of the obstetrics in medicine has improved until this day.
Study Obstetrics
Fun fact, in Ireland, they have a Bachelor of obstetrics, also known as Baccalaureus in Arte Obstetricia. This bachelor is a degree that is available only in Ireland in which it was introduced there in the 19th century in response to laws in that time that mandated all graduates to have a final examination in obstetrics.
For Malaysian students who are interested to study bachelor of obstetrics in Ireland, RCSI & UCD Malaysia Campus (RUMC) does offer this programme in Dublin, Ireland. It is called Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Bachelor in the Art of Obstetrics (MB BCh BAO).
RUMC is actually an Irish Medical University owned by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and University College Dublin (UCD). These two colleges are among the medical universities popular in Ireland. So if you enrolled into this MB BCh BAO programme, you will go to Ireland for the preclinical years (2.5 years) and then the remaining 2.5 years at the RUMC in Malaysia for the clinical year training. About the Accreditation Status of Malaysia (MQA), you do not have to worry because it is qualified by the Ministry of Higher Education so once you finish your study, you could easily get a job just like the other medical graduates.
After completing this Bachelor, if you would like to be a medical doctor in this obstetrics field, after completing the house-officer term for 2years, you need to show your interests to the obstetrics committee so that you might get help to enroll in the obstetric department and gain as much as experience in there. And if you would like to become a specialist in Obstetrics, you could slowly apply for the Masters programme in Obstetrics & Gynecology. There are few universities in Malaysia that offer this program. You can just search it from the internet.
