Bangkok has a motorcycle midwife team

While touring and sightseeing in Bangkok, Thailand the other day, we found a man and a woman sitting on a two-wheeled motorcycle, both wearing red-cross armlets. Tour guide Patty told us: This is the Bangkok specialty "motorcycle midwifery team."

The "motorcycle midwifery team" was established at the end of 2002, jointly managed by the Bangkok Municipal Police Department and the Health Department. Its main task is to help women facing delivery due to traffic congestion.

In recent years, the traffic congestion in Bangkok has become increasingly severe, making it impossible for women to go to the hospital for delivery. According to the survey statistics of the Bangkok Health Department, in 2004 alone, more than 900 babies were born in taxis, and more than 100 of them died unfortunately due to the lack of necessary midwifery facilities and drugs at the scene.