Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Food Hygiene has introduced new rules to protect the privacy and personal dignity of mothers receiving maternity services at health institutions, including during childbirth. Under the Maternal and Child-Friendly Health Institution Program Operation Directive, 2083, facilities are to use curtains to maintain privacy during delivery, even when more than one mother is kept in the same room. The directive replaces the earlier Maternal and Child-Friendly Service Campaign Directive, 2073.
Privacy during maternity care
The new directive makes mothers’ privacy a stated priority for health institutions providing maternity services. Its specific provision addresses delivery rooms where several mothers may be present at the same time: curtains are to be used so that one mother’s care and childbirth are not exposed to others in the room. The measure is intended to protect both privacy and personal dignity during a sensitive period of care.
The arrangement applies even when a health institution is caring for more than one mother in a shared room. In such circumstances, the directive calls for curtains to provide separation during delivery. The provision therefore focuses not only on the privacy of mothers in individual rooms, but also on circumstances in which a room is shared.
Reports by Nagarik News and Khabarhub describe the provision as part of a broader arrangement for maternity services at health institutions. The directive’s focus on privacy places the way care is provided alongside the service itself: mothers are to receive maternity care with attention to their personal dignity.
A new directive replaces the earlier campaign rules
The Maternal and Child-Friendly Health Institution Program Operation Directive, 2083 replaces the Maternal and Child-Friendly Service Campaign Directive, 2073. The change establishes a new directive in place of the earlier campaign guidance, while identifying maternal privacy as a priority within the program for health institutions.
The new title reflects a shift from the earlier service campaign directive to an operation directive for a maternal and child-friendly health institution program. The information provided about the change does not detail other provisions of the new directive, but it does specify the privacy arrangement for delivery and the use of curtains when multiple mothers share a room.
What the rule means for mothers and facilities
For mothers receiving care, the specified measure is a physical barrier during delivery when other patients are in the same room. The stated aim is to ensure privacy and protect personal dignity while maternity services are being provided. For health institutions, the directive sets out curtains as the means of maintaining that privacy in a shared-room situation.
The provision is notable for addressing a practical circumstance directly: more than one mother may be kept in the same room. Rather than treating shared accommodation as a reason privacy cannot be maintained, the directive identifies curtains as the way to protect mothers’ privacy during delivery in that setting. It describes an institutional arrangement for maternity care, rather than limiting the issue to a mother’s individual preference.
The available details do not specify when each institution must put the arrangement in place, how compliance will be monitored, or whether the directive sets out additional privacy measures beyond the use of curtains during delivery. What is clear is that Nepal’s new Maternal and Child-Friendly Health Institution Program Operation Directive, 2083 gives explicit priority to privacy and dignity for mothers receiving maternity services, including women giving birth in rooms shared with other mothers.
