Doctors in the division of obstetrics and gynecology at Kelowna General Hospital (KGH) are alerting that the pregnancy ward gets on the brink of collapse amidst a scarcity of family doctor.
A joint declaration from all 9 participants of the division released Thursday claimed that “without immediate action from health authorities and government decision-makers, the safety of patients and newborns is at serious risk.”
“Due to a critical shortage of family physicians willing or able to provide this care— worsened by a failure to recruit replacements—our hospital is facing a collapse of its primary maternity care coverage as early as June 1, 2025.
“This indicates that several expecting clients might come to the health center in work without physician readily available to offer risk-free, continual treatment throughout distribution.”
The doctors said their concerns about staffing and support have gone largely unanswered and they’re demanding immediate action from Interior Health.
The doctor representing the group declined an interview request from CBC News.
Dr. Hussam Azzam, executive medical director for Interior Health South, acknowledged the physicians’ concerns, saying KGH leadership is in regular contact with with the ob-gyns to address a complex issue with ” numerous columns to it that we require to resolve.”
“We are open to pay attention and we’re open to deal with them collaboratively to fulfill their demands and to provide the very best top quality treatment that they have actually educated to do,” Azzam said.
Dr. Charlene Lui, president of the professional association Doctors of B.C., said family doctors often handle low-risk patients with obstetricians focused on cases that are high risk and more complex.
“When we have less low-risk pregnancy carriers that are family doctor, then that places extra stress on our obstetricians to in some cases require to be in numerous areas at the very same time when an emergency situation occurs,” Lui said.
The statement followed last week’s announcement of an extended closure of the pediatric unit at KGH. The health authority said it temporarily closed the pediatric care unit at the hospital to address scheduling gaps due to limited physician availability.
“We are extremely surprised to listen to that the problems at Kelowna General remain to intensify without services from the wellness authority,” Lui said Friday.
KGH is a regional referral centre with over 1,800 deliveries each year and a Tier 4 neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) caring for babies born at 30 weeks gestation or later, according to the doctors’ letter.
Dr. Jeff Eppler, an emergency department physician at KGH, told CBC News on Friday that he was heading into a weekend shift amid staff shortages, including no pediatricians and a limited number of ob-gyns.
“Our team is stressing out. All of these solution disturbances simply make the work a lot harder for everyone in the emergency situation division,” Eppler said.
“And despite the fact that we are all beginning to wear out, we are mosting likely to need to get added changes this summertime to offset all the imperfections in the system.”
In a statement, B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne said parents can be assured that all of the hospital’s critical care services for children remain open, including the emergency department and NICU.
Gavin Dew, the B.C. Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Mission, described the situation at the hospital as a ” situation of federal government disregard.”
“We have numerous divisions of the health center that plainly really feel as if they are not being listened to by the people that need to be paying attention to them and are turning to revealing the crisis-level problems at the health center,” Dew said.
The hospital ob-gyns said they have warned administrators of the risks, and have tried to offer solutions.
“We have actually sent numerous letters, propositions, and official interactions prompting activity,” reads the statement. “Our problems have actually gone mainly unanswered.”
They are calling on Interior Health and B.C.’s health ministry to create a contingency plan to ensure patients are cared for and to support the transfer of maternity patients if care can’t be provided locally.
Osborne acknowledged the hard work of pediatricians at KGH, saying they have been dealing with staffing shortages and are ” naturally experiencing fatigue.”
She took place to state the district’s initiatives to hire health-care employees are beginning to settle. Two brand-new doctors have actually approved deals to operate at KGH, she claimed, with the very first collection to get here inJuly
