Kitikmeot to open Cambay midwifery centre

The Nunavut government is setting up a birthing centre in Cambridge Bay so women don't have to leave the community to deliver their children.

Nunavut's department of Health and Social Services says it will hire three midwives to work at the Kitikmeot Health Facility this summer.

Midwives can deliver babies in situations where the birth isn't complicated.

Cambridge Bay resident Beverly Mala has had to leave the community five times to give birth. She likes the idea of having a midwifery centre in the Kitikmeot, and says she'd like to help.

"I'd like to assist with the program. I wanted to be a nurse as I was growing up and I started a family so I couldn't go (on to) further education, but I am willing to take training even if it's after hours 'cause I do work full time," she says.

Most women in the Kitikmeot region go to Yellowknife to have their children.

Mala says having the opportunity to give birth in the community will allow mothers to stay with their immediate family.

Officials with the Kitikmeot Health and Social Services department say they expect the new health facility will be open by mid-August.