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Hannover / Emden (dpa / lni) - In Lower Saxony, another maternity ward is to close in a hospital in 2021.
Obstetrics will move from the Emden Clinic to Aurich.
For the pregnant women and their families from Emden, it is half an hour's drive away.
The hospital in Leer is just as far away.
The departure of the maternity ward from Emden is part of a major redistribution of specialist areas within the East Frisian clinic association Aurich-Emden-Norden.
The association announced last November that work should be done more economically for a transition period.
A central clinic with obstetrics and all other departments is to be built on the green field in Uthwerdum by the end of 2027 - equally easily accessible from all three cities.
The exact time for the closure of the Emden obstetrics has not yet been determined, said a spokeswoman for the clinic association on request.
The relocation should be completed in 2021.
She pointed out that there are already about 1200 births a year in Aurich.
In Emden there are only about 400 births.
On the other hand, Emden receives important specialist areas, such as gynecology.
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But with this step, the network of maternity wards is thinning out further.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, there were still 1,131 obstetric beds in the clinics in 2012.
By 2020 the number had dropped to 965 beds.
The four districts of Diepholz, Peine, Wesermarsch and Wittmund no longer have clinical obstetrics at all.
There are only a few alternative birth centers in the country.
And they too must not be more than a 20-minute drive away from a clinic.
Health Minister Carole Reimann (SPD) nevertheless assumes that “an easily accessible supply with maternity wards is largely ensured”.
Unfortunately, the country has little influence if hospitals are no longer able to operate smaller obstetrics due to a lack of qualified staff.
The aim in such cases is to secure the surrounding obstetrics and expand them accordingly.
The Lower Saxony Midwives Association sees the development very differently.
"I can't understand that a big city like Emden should no longer have an obstetrics ward," said chairwoman Veronika Bujny.
For the woman giving birth it means restlessness having to drive on, worrying about whether there is room in the hospital.
This also leads to more births being initiated.
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“We think that women in the country should have the right to give birth near their home,” said Bujny.
That is why hospitals should be remunerated for births “so that the houses no longer perceive the closure as lucrative”.
The Rural Women’s Association in Germany also wants to use an online petition to ensure that maternity wards close to home are retained everywhere.
In the district of Diepholz, the fifth largest in the country by area, there has been no obstetrics since the Bassum station was closed at the end of 2011.
The district council voted last June to build a new central hospital in Twistringen.
According to a spokeswoman, there will also be a women's and birthing department with 28 beds.
But the clinic won't be ready for seven years at the earliest.
Changes in the network of the Aurich-Emden-Norden clinics
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Planning of the central clinic in the Diepholz district
Petition obstetrics in rural areas
Hospital plan Lower Saxony 2020