The Centre Hospitalier du Nord Ettelbruck has long faced a shortage of specialist neonatologists. Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

The Centre Hospitalier du Nord Ettelbruck has long faced a shortage of specialist neonatologists. Guy Wolff/Maison Moderne

A lack of paediatricians specialising in neonatology has led to the temporary closure of Ettelbruck's maternity ward.

The board of directors of the Centre Hospitalier du Nord (CHDN) has taken steps to temporarily close the  maternity ward at its Ettelbruck hospital for an as yet undetermined period. 

According to RTL,  the 60 to 70 births that Ettelbruck oversees on average every month will be transferred to either the CHL Kannerklinik or the maternity ward at the Robert Schuman hospital in Kirchberg.

The temporary closure is the result of a shortage of specialist doctors that the CHDN has been facing for some time. Current legislation stipulates that a maternity hospital with fewer than 1,500 births per year must have an obstetrician-gynaecologist, an anaesthetist and a paediatrician available on short call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

But neonatologists, who specialise in care for ill or prematurely born babies and could also provide emergency resuscitation if necessary are rare, and the CHDN is in short supply. Anaesthetists regularly intervene to resuscitate newborns. But “these doctors are not neonatologists either and cannot continue the intensive care of these children on their own,” said Dr Paul Wirtgen, director general of the CHDN. Twice a month on average Ettelbruck has to call in the CHL's neonatal emergency service.

But the delay in getting to Ettelbruck means that sometimes the anaesthetist-resuscitator at the CHDN has to take charge of the mother and the child. This is a risky situation. “It is obvious that we must find a solution as soon as possible in order to ensure the best possible care, not only in the north, but also at national level. Today, the CHDN is no longer in a position to take on this responsibility alone,” Wirtgen emphasised.

The temporary closure of the ward is the only immediate solution, according to the CHDN board.

A parliamentary question on the situation was tabled on Friday by DP deputies André Bauler and Gille Baum. On Sunday, CSV deputies Claude Wiseler, Martine Hansen and Jean-Paul Schaaf (who is also the mayor of Ettelbruck) also tabled an urgent parliamentary question in which they asked health minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) whether she recognised the importance of maternity wards in the north and south of the country or whether she was advocating a centralisation of maternity services towards the capital city.