St. Martha's Regional Hospital hit with obstetrician shortage
This will be the second time this month no babies will be delivered at the hospital
"What happens is they just don't have coverage to provide call every night, so they have a three-day gap where they have no obstetrician," said Dr. Robyn MacQuarrie, a doctor who works in Amherst.
"It's happening to Antigonish now. We warned the government this is going to happen and they didn't take us seriously," said MacQuarrie.
She and other ob-gyn's have been pushing the Nova Scotia government to improve the the reimbursement system. She says they have had meetings with the province, but there haven't been any developments from the province's side.
"We're saying this is real and it's going to happen, and they think we're trying to negotiate," said MacQuarrie.
This will be the second time this month where no babies will be delivered at St. Martha's Regional Hospital.
A longer drive
With no delivery service taking place, it will also mean that expecting mothers from southern Cape Breton will have to travel an additional 40 minutes to the Aberdeen Hospital in New Glasgow.
Five recently graduated doctors in Nova Scotia are all leaving the province to work elsewhere.
The Nova Scotia Health Authority says a recently-hired obstetrician and midwife will help the situation once they begin working in the summer.