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<\/p>\n\u201cGaps in specialist coverage beginning in August 2025 have the potential to require service reductions, and there will be occasions where we may need to transfer you (at no cost to you) to another centre in the province to ensure the safety of you and your baby,\u201d reads a statement shared by Northern Health from the hospital\u2019s department of obstetrics.<\/p>\n
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B.C.\u2019s official opposition in the legislature has raised concerns about the potential disruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t expect pregnant women to have to travel all the way to Kamloops, Kelowna or Vancouver to deliver a baby,\u201d said B.C. Conservative MLA Kiel Giddens, who represents Prince George-Mackenzie.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need that basic standard of care here in northern B.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
B.C Health Minister Josie Osborne commented on the obstetrics specialist shortage at an unrelated news conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe health authorities I know are doing everything they can to alleviate that strain to work with physicians and care teams to ensure services are there for people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The specialist shortage adds to existing primary care gaps and emergency room closures that are hitting rural communities hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cObstetrics is of additional concern, because we\u2019re dealing now with two lives, that of a mother and a child,\u201d said Paul Adams, executive director of the BC Rural Health Network.<\/p>\n