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AMA Victoria Calls for a Response to Neonatal Emergency
Revelations that a Melbourne woman was forced to fly interstate for the premature delivery of twins due to a local intensive care bed shortage have prompted AMA Victoria to call on the State Government to immediately respond to a neonatal planning review.
AMA Victoria President Dr Sam Lees, said it was the public’s right to know why an expectant mother could no longer rely on having her baby delivered locally, if a situation should arise where intensive care support is required.
“Victoria’s doctors and nurses do exceptional work in caring for up to 50 intensive care cases at any one time” said Dr Lees.
“Now it is the responsibility of the State Government to come to the party and ensure that the system is adequately resourced to allow some flexibility in this figure.”
Dr Lees said evidence that the Victorian public hospital system cannot provide these services if the number of neonatal intensive care cases gets too high at any particular time was indeed a worry.
“This is a wake-up call for the State Government to increase the number of neonatal intensive care beds.”
“The health of these mothers and their new babies is paramount and we must not have them shifted interstate at a time when they are at their most vulnerable and in need of strong local and home support networks.”
The State Government’s claim that the incident, although unfortunate, was not a sign of crisis in obstetric services as Victorian hospital often accommodated emergency neonatal cases from other States was also met with criticism within AMA Victoria ranks.
“There is no doubt that Victoria has amongst the best neonatal facilities in the world. As a result we do have cases from interstate who need to use these highly specialised services.”
“However these are generally elective cases with pre-diagnosed birth defects so they are very different to the emergency flight to Adelaide where the mother can’t prepare for the relocation.”
“To suggest that this incident is proof of a working and reciprocal national system is misleading. There is a problem with the availability of support for obstetric services in Victoria, and put simply it must be fixed urgently” said Dr Lees.
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