Faced with the lack of medical personnel in maternity wards, the Île-de-France region has set up a unit to help pregnant women find available places to give birth.
The summer holidays are once again putting a strain on maternity services in Seine-Saint-Denis, like everywhere in France. Due to a lack of personnel to give birth safely or because of services that are closing, Nassira had to go to Montfermeil to give birth to her first child. The young woman, however, lives two minutes walk from the Vauban clinic, in Livry-Gargan, the establishment which nevertheless followed her throughout her pregnancy. “I was advised to go to Montfermeil they have good services and they are well reputed“, she explains.
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Above all, she had no choice. The Vauban clinic closed its obstetrics activity in June, considering that it could not accommodate pregnant women in good conditions. Those who were to give birth there were therefore distributed to the department’s maternity wards, thanks in particular to the Aima system, an online site and a number created a year ago by the Île-de-France regional health agency, to precisely to help these women who cannot find a place in the maternity ward.
420 requests, half from Seine-Saint-Denis
At the end of the line, the coordinator of the cell, Marine Portier, tries to answer the requests made by form: “It can be very, very scary for a woman.she believes. Some women explain ‘I can’t give birth there, what am I going to do? In addition, this is where I gave birth to my first two children, it is out of the question that I go to another maternity ward.“. For the coordinator, “you have to adapt the discourse, you have to reassure them, be a little patient, and at the same time it’s anxiety for them because they don’t want to give birth at home, ‘on the sidewalk’ as they might say. They are told ‘no, of course not, you will give birth in a hospital, but it will not necessarily be that one'”.
Since the start of the year, the cell has received 420 requests, with a ramp-up at the start of the summer. Among these requests, nearly half of the women come from Seine-Saint-Denis. “The whole department is under tensioncontinues Marine Portier, it’s summer so there are very few places available in July-August.”
Between the lack of midwives or obstetricians, some establishments are forced to reduce the number of daily deliveries to stay in the nails, but above all to cope in the event of complications, and ensure the safety of mothers and their babies. .