We do not have to worry about the shifts in the maternity home; on the contrary, they will bring better quality care for parents and newborns

In addition to the new classification of health facilities, the optimisation of the hospital network brought the transfer of births from gynaecological and reproductive departments in five districts: Snina, Partizánske, Myjava, Kráľovský Chlmec and Revúca, which did not reach even 400 births per year. In order to explain this topic in detail to the most vulnerable groups of the marginalized Roma communities, regional meetings were held last week between representatives of the Institute of Health Analysis, the management of the hospitals of the World Health and the staff of the contributory organisation Healthy regions in Rožňava, Humenné and Trebišov. Participants also had the opportunity to visit the premises of the gynaecological and reproductive departments in Rožňava and Trebišov.
In particular, the participation of Healthy Region coordinators working in marginalised Roma communities was important. They are the ones who, on the one hand, have expressed concerns on the part of their clients (times of commuting to hospitals, quality of medical procedures, etc.), and on the other hand, they will convey the information received to future mothers. The health department considers it important to direct future mothers properly, plan childbirth, prepare for arrival in the maternity home and, in particular, visit to prenatal counseling.
The discussion also focused on systemic changes in the organisation of the hospital network and, in particular, on the benefits that the obstetrics included in the network will bring to mothers and newborns thanks to professional, experienced medical staff teams or instrumental and personnel equipment.
Minister of Health Michal Palkovič: " We are very aware that the transfer of obstetrics is indeed a sensitive subject. However, the less exercise the hospital has, the less experience the staff have with childbirth, especially if there are complications. We are also agreed by medical professionals and medical analysts. The healthcare provided in the hospital must be professional and be provided by professionals with adequate experience and experience.

Hospital representatives declared the readiness to receive patients from displaced maternity wards: our maternity and neonatal departments in Humenné, Rožňava and Trebišov are prepared capacity and personnel to cope with more births. Workplaces have undergone complex modernizations and provide parents with a high standard of comfort and safety. At the same time, they will be as helpful as possible to cooperate with regional health assistants in prenatally preparing parents from excluded groups of the population. Equally helpful will be our hospitals and health care professionals of the original obstetrics, who would like to continue working in this field, and said Radoslav Čuha, General Director of ProCare and World of Health.
UN information and benefits in relation to obstetrics:

• Duty in obstetrics since January 2024: neonatal ward, infant intensive care unit (JISN), presence of anesthesiology 24 hours 7 days a week. These equipment are important for the safety of the parent and newborn.
• By adding Intensive Care Units for newborns to all obstetrics, we will avoid some movements and care for newborns will be better. The patient and the newborn will be taken care of within one hospital.
• Today, more than 40% of obstetrics have only a physiological department for newborns, and therefore all more complicated conditions must be transported to other hospitals, which can endanger the life of the patient and the newborn.
• Often displaced maternity care institutions cannot secure the presence of an anesthesiologist 24 hours 7 days a week, making it difficult for women to access epidural anaesthesia during classical vaginal delivery, not to mention serious complications such as, for example, the caesarean section.
• Currently there are 51 maternity services in Slovakia, we had 53 239 births in 2021
• Obstetrics are mandatory in the hospital level II; hospitals level I may have maternity care as a supplementary programme

State contribution organization of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic Healthy regions implement the national project Healthy communities from 1 January 2017 thanks to financial support from the European Social Fund under the Operational Programme Human Resources. In the field, the organisation has more than 300 field workers who operate in 450 segregated Roma settlements located in 280 municipalities and towns. Workers work on a daily basis to train, educate the population and implement preventive measures.