Putting Value on the Midwives

March 8, 2007
By ERIN AIRTON
for Daily 24 Hours - Vancouver

B.C.'s midwives are at the bargaining table with the provincial government, trying to hammer out an agreement on their contract, due to expire at the end of the month.

With spiralling health care costs plaguing provinces across Canada, here is something to consider: About 40,000 babies were born in British Columbia last year at a total cost of at least $150,000,000, not including newborn care or care for the mother after the birth.

Now it is hard to put a price on love, but the Canadian Institute of Health Research estimates that an uncomplicated vaginal delivery costs us about $2,800 and an uncomplicated C-section costs around $5,000. As has been reported extensively, B.C. has one of the highest C-section rates in the country, increasing the costs for taxpayers, not to mention the toll that this surgical method can have on a mother or her baby.

Midwifery supported births have demonstrated a much lower incidence of complications, C-sections and post-birth problems for mothers and babies. Midwives work closely with women to provide support, quell fears and encourage a natural experience for the birth, rather than a fear-filled medical one.

In stark contrast to many of the overwhelming issues facing healthcare in B.C., this situation is rather novel - better care and lower costs for the public system, which reimburses midwives on a per-birth fee basis.

So what do these compelling statistics have to do with this latest round of negotiations?

The Midwives' Association, which graduates just 8-10 new midwives per year from UBC, is looking for support from the B.C. Government to encourage new women to enter the field and to retain the ones that are already practicing.

Factors that have made family doctors hard to find, including attrition and a shortage of rural practitioners, have also befallen midwives and their patients.

In some rural communities, there are neither doctors nor midwives available to deliver babies, resulting in long distances travelled for expectant mothers, leaving them isolated from their families during this important time in their lives.

The Midwives Association knows that there aren't enough midwives to currently meet demands, and as with the other health professions, that is only going to worsen as the primarily older women in the field retire. As it is, less than seven per cent of women giving birth have access to the service and many midwives carry waitlists.

In 1997, the NDP recognized the value that midwives bring to the medical system and B.C. Liberals have continued to support and expand the profession. With all of our health care system issues, it is a relief to find a service that both serves patient needs and helps ease the pressure on our overloaded health system.

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