Doctors threaten to vacate Montreal maternity ward

Last Updated: Friday, January 18, 2008 | 1:54 PM ET

CBC News

Doctors at a Montreal hospital are threatening to stop delivering babies this spring, saying the aging maternity ward is in a decrepit state of repair.

The ward at Sacré-Coeur Hospital hasn't been renovated since 1958, doesn't have a ventilation system, and its rooms are so crowded that in one instance a private washroom with a bathtub has to be shared by four women at any given time.

There aren't enough resuscitation tables in the ward, which leads to uncomfortable situations when a newborn is in crisis, said Dr. Louise Dessureault, an obstetrician at the hospital.

"Sometimes we are forced to resuscitate a [blue] baby in a room where another woman is in full labour," she said on Friday.

The ward's examination room is also very cramped because it is a converted closet jammed with a desk, table, medical equipment and a computer, she said.

Medical staff in the maternity ward are doing a good job despite the working conditions, Dessureault said — but they've had enough and issued their ultimatum in writing to hospital administrators on Thursday.

If the hospital doesn't spend some money updating the ward, by April 30 doctors will no longer deliver babies, unless a woman shows up in full labour.

Hospital administrators acknowledged the ward is in dire need of attention.

But there is a $5 million renovation plan in the works, and the hospital is waiting for provincial funding to be released, said Jacques Laplante, director of professional services.

The Sacré-Coeur Hospital delivers about 2,000 babies a year.