(CHAT News File Photo)

By Alex McCuaig

Not accepting due dates past mid-July

Maternity clinic director making sure pieces stay in place ‘as best as we can’

Jan 12, 2021 | 4:58 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Uncertainty continues about the future of the city’s maternity clinic and how prenatal care will be delivered to the more than 600 women who use the service annually.

The Family Medicine Maternity Clinic (FMMC) isn’t accepting expectant mothers with due dates past mid-July after a funding lifeline extended to the clinic ran out this month.

The FMMC was given a last-minute, three-month reprieve after it faced closure at the end of October so it could find options for prenatal care in the city.

But negotiations between Alberta Health Services and doctors have so far not resulted in a solution.

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FMMC director Dr. Gerry Prince says expectant mothers have expressed concern about the situation.

“They want to make sure they have good care for their pregnancy and they want to make sure they have someone there to deliver,” he said. “So we’re making sure all of those pieces stay in place as best as we can. We just aren’t able to say exactly what that looks like at this point.”

Brooks-Medicine Hat MLA Michaela Glasgo says she hasn’t given up hope on saving the clinic and has been advocating to both the premier and Health Minister Tyler Shandro to find a solution.

“To save the clinic, I think we’ll just need to make sure that we have everyone on the same page. Minister Shandro spoke in the legislature when I asked about the maternity clinic a couple of months ago that we were looking at any option to keep it viable,” said Glasgo.

The clinic has been in operation for 17 years as it was established as a centralize prenatal care centre for mothers to address a shortage of doctors willing to provide obstetric care in the region.