The Sant Joan de Deu de Martorell Hospital, in Barcelona has decided temporarily close the natural birth house because the lack of midwives “it makes it difficult to attend with all health guarantees to women who opt for a hands-off delivery.
This has been stated by sources from the hospital center, who have confirmed that since last october the house of natural births has lost five midwives, two of them during the Christmas period.
For this reason, the hospital, which has not specified the total number of midwives it has, has stated that it decides “to temporarily close the space from January 1 as long as there are not enough qualified personnel”, what -he has recognized- he hopes it will be “sooner, if it’s in two weeks, better than three”.
similar to a house
The natural birth house is located outside the obstetric block of the hospital and in it the mothers find a room similar to that of a house or a hotel, where there are different spaces to work on the birth process such as a bathtub, a bed, lianas, a birthing chair, a mattress or adjustable lights.
In the event of a complicated delivery, women are quickly transferred to the conventional delivery room, which “gives them security”, since “they know they have all the medical services of a hospital center”, They have indicated from the hospital.
The midwives, who are responsible for the natural birth home, “they have to be qualified personnel, with experience and ability to react”, given that in this space “where there is no obstetric material, doctors do not attend”, the same sources have added.
For this reason, from the hospital they have stressed that the requirements to work and take responsibility for natural births, plus the general lack of midwives in the health system, “They are making it difficult to find enough staff.”
Two midwives at each birth
In addition, “it must be taken into account that to attend each natural birth, it is necessary two midwives”, that they are professionals “who also attend births in the medical delivery room” The health center has specified.
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“It would be irresponsibility keep the service open without the midwives necessary”, since “both the proper functioning of natural and conventional births” would be mortgaged, the hospital stressed.
The natural birthing house of the Martorell Hospital opened in 2017, it is pioneer in Catalonia and to date has hosted some 380 births, have specified from the center, who “in order to reopen it as soon as possible” have affirmed that they have made “a call and started a selection process in order to find the necessary personnel”.