Maternal morbidity is a true mirror reflecting the standard of health–care of a nation & is frequently described to be “just the tip of the iceberg” since a vast proportion of the same remains unreported. Therefore, the concept of Maternal Near Miss (MNM) or Severe Acute Maternal Morbidity (SAMM) was introduced in maternal health–care to complement information required from Maternal Death Review (MDR). This review is an attempt to clear the misconceptions & update the readers regarding the concept of MNM which may prove to be instrumental in helping in formulating policies to improve the health–care services at each level across the whole nation.