BIRTH CAP

Protest set over birth cap at hospital Organizer hopes noon-hour rally will help restore services to women
Dave Rogers The Ottawa Citizen
Friday, November 30, 2001

A protest at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital over an imposed cap on births and cuts to women's services has been organized for Saturday.

Catherine Weaver, a registered practical nurse who works in a gynecologist's office, said yesterday she wants people to stand on the hospital's front lawn at noon to ask where pregnant women will be cared for and where they will deliver their babies.

Ms. Weaver said women are upset by an average six-month wait for gynecological surgery at the hospital.

The Queensway-Carleton has demanded that obstetricians provide written assurances that they will limit the total number of births to 2,100 or risk losing their privileges and jobs.

The hospital has cut its operating room time for gynecological surgery by 33 per cent, Ms. Weaver said. She said operating room time that has been taken away from women is now used for general surgery.

Obstetricians at the hospital are refusing to agree to the cap on delivering babies to protect their patients.

Ms. Weaver said the quota of 2,100 births a year is at least 600 below the number expected in the area the hospital serves. She said limiting obstetrical services and operating room time for gynecological surgery will create a crisis for women because other Ottawa hospitals are full.

"We want people to show that they are concerned about the cuts to women's programs at Queensway-Carleton Hospital," Ms. Weaver said. "I work for a gynecologist who does surgery at the hospital.

"Their operating room dates are about six months down the road. I have women calling me every day concerned about large masses that need surgery. These are people who could have cancer."

Ms. Weaver said the hospital must allow at least 2,400 births and restore gynecological and obstetrical operating room time.

Meanwhile, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada has condemned limits on the number of deliveries at the Queensway-Carleton as a "serious affront" to Canada's health care system.

The society has urged the hospital's board of directors to reconsider its decision to limit women's services.

"The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada is deeply concerned with the recent actions implemented by the board of directors at the Queensway-Carleton Hospital with regards to access to obstetrical care," said society president Dr. Jan Christilaw in a letter to the hospital.

The society asked the hospital's board of directors to provide its obstetrical unit with enough money to care for pregnant women and to cease its pressure tactics on obstetricians.