The maternity ward will be able to take charge of low-risk pregnancies. Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

The maternity ward will be able to take charge of low-risk pregnancies. Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

The maternity ward of the Centre Hospitalier du Nord (CHdN) reopened its doors on 1 June after closing temporarily at the start of April.

The department had to close due to a shortage in specialist neonatologist doctors, a problem resolved under an agreement for stronger collaboration between the CHL group and the northern hospital.

 between the CHL and CHdN, approved by the health and social security ministries in April, will combine several measures to counter the hospital’s staff shortage. For example, the Ettelbruck ward will have a trained reanimation team present on site. Experts from the CHL’s neonatology department will also offer their assistance remotely, while mothers and newborns will be transferred to intensive neonatology services in the Luxembourg City hospital if needed. In principle, the ward should only accept low-risk pregnancies.

“We are very happy and relieved to finally be able to reopen our maternity ward. That’s the result of an excellent team work between all actors involved,” Paul Wirtgen, the CHdN’s general director stated in a press release published on 31 May.

The Ettelbruck hospital on average takes care of 60 to 70 births a month.

The closure had led to a  calling for better round-the-clock emergency care in the country’s north for pregnant women and children.


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