Mykolaiv Municipal Health: The increase in the number of citizens will not create a problem for the reorganized maternity hospitals

Maternity hospital No. 1, photo by NikVesti

The reorganized maternity homes of Mykolaiv are able to receive women in labor throughout the year, even if the city's population continues to grow.

This was stated by the head of the Mykolayiv City Council's health care department, Iryna Shamrai, during a briefing on December 27, NikVesti reports.

We remind that almost 500 more women gave birth in Mykolaiv maternity hospitals this year than last year. This is explained by the fact that people are returning to the city. In addition, in Mykolaiv there are also internally displaced residents from Kherson and the regions of the region, who also turn to Mykolaiv maternity hospitals.

According to Iryna Shamrai, maternity hospital No. 3 currently accepts only 1,200 births per year, with a capacity of over 4,000.

«Today, we have the opportunity to carry out transformation in medical institutions in accordance with the requirements of the time. The capacities of the maternity hospital No. 3, which is typical and built exactly as a maternity hospital, can receive up to 4,700 births per year today. They have 1,200 today. Therefore, one maternity hospital can accommodate all the births we have in the region. We did not close the maternity hospitals, they are where they were, they are still there, the staff worked and are still working. Today, the residents of the city of Mykolaiv can choose the house where they will give birth - this is the department of the city hospital No. 3, where the maternity hospital No. 2 used to be, it is located there, and the department of the maternity hospital No. 1, which is located on Ekipazhna Street. The only thing is that the subordination of these departments, there are reduced administrative and economic staff. Currently, there are no plans to reduce these departments,» the official said.

At the same time, she noted that if the number of residents of Mykolaiv increases to the point where obstetricians are forced to take 10,000 births a year, the city's medical system will cope with it.

«If there is a need in the city and we grow to the size where we have 10,000 births per year, believe me, we are able to provide it. I can responsibly say that we will manage if we have 10,000 births a year. We will be happy to accept and work with such a number, we have the resources for this,» emphasized Iryna Shamrai.

As you know, the number of births in Mykolaiv increased by almost 500 in 11 months compared to the same period in 2022.

We remind that in May 2023 in Mykolaiv, the city authorities began to study the issue of unification of maternity hospitals. The number of births is decreasing in the city.

On July 31, 2023, the Mykolaiv City Council decided to reorganize maternity homes №1 and №2 — they were attached to City Hospital №1 and City Hospital №3, respectively. The head of the city's health care department, Iryna Shamrai, explaining the need to reorganize medical facilities, stated that over the past 7 years, the number of pregnant women in Mykolaiv has decreased 5 times.

The city authorities plan to keep one maternity hospital in the city for almost half a million residents — №3, which is located in the Lisky microdistrict in the Zavodskyi district of Mykolaiv.

42 people were laid off due to the actual liquidation of maternity hospital №2 in Mykolaiv.

The staff of the maternity hospital No. 2 in Mykolaiv considers the decision of the city authorities to actually liquidate and preserve only one specialized medical facility in the city to be erroneous.

We remind you that in January 2022, a blogger from Mykolaiv spoke about the cost of «free» childbirth in maternity hospital №3: 10 thousand hryvnias for a cesarean section, 8 thousand hryvnias for a natural birth. The cost of an ordinary ward was also mentioned — 580 hryvnias per day, but there are also ones for 2,500 hryvnias per day at prices as of the beginning of 2022.

It should be noted that the state also guarantees free childbirth in Ukraine. In December 2021, Minister of Health Viktor Liashko stated that the National Health Service of Ukraine would compensate for one birth 15 thousand 101 hryvnias under the medical guarantee program. According to the E-Health system, the Mykolaiv Maternity Hospital №3 received 43 million 125 thousand 99 hryvnias under this program in 2021.

We remind that in the period from December 4 to 10, 108 children were born in medical institutions of the Mykolaiv region. 4 of them are twins.