Petition to save the midwives
New law: is it the end for clinical obstetrics?
© inna_astakhova / Adobe Stock
“You should look for a midwife now”, a sentence that many pregnant women probably hear at the very beginning of their pregnancy. Unfortunately, rightly so midwives in maternity wards at all.
“The postpartum bed belongs in competent, trained hands,” reads a comment under the petition “No deletion of midwives from the care budget from 2025!” The petition has more than 1.2 million signatures on Change.org and counting every second. With 1.5 million signatures, this petition becomes one of the most signed actions on Change.org.
The new law could lead to a loss of midwives
Michelle Franco created this petition and addresses it directly to Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach. On October 20, 2022, the government passed the GKV Financial Stabilization Act (GKV means statutory health insurance), which should take effect from 2025. The fundamental problem is that the additional financing due to the pandemic (around 14 billion euros in 2022) is no longer available. Without additional measures on the part of the federal government, the additional contribution that the insured would have to pay would increase immensely. The law aims to redistribute the burden and save money.
At the same time, however, the law stipulates that from 2025 medical specialists who do not belong to a ward that manages beds must be financed elsewhere by the hospitals, as they are no longer included in the care budget. This regulation hits obstetrics particularly hard. Because: Midwives and maternity nurses are no longer included in the care budget. The same applies to physiotherapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists and curative education workers.
The petition is intended to bring about a change in the GKV Financial Stabilization Act
Therefore, the signatories with the petition “No deletion of midwives from the care budget from 2025!” the Federal Government to change the GKV Financial Stabilization Act and to continue to include midwives in clinics in the care budget and thus to support them.
“Women need midwives in clinics during childbirth and afterwards!”, says the petition. Under no circumstances can this important task be taken over by other nursing staff or doctors. “The delivery rooms are already overcrowded,” it said. Further closures of maternity clinics would overload the system even more.
Changes in the law can lead to midwives being fired
The consequences of the law could be serious. The loss of refinancing could result in midwives on childbed wards being laid off. However, these are essential for good care of mother and child after birth.
“Midwives are the experts for the care and nursing of high-risk pregnant women and women in childbirth. They significantly ensure the quality of care and, of course and with primary responsibility, assume their part of the care mandate in the entire obstetric department,” says Ulrike Geppert-Orthofer, President of the German Association of Midwives in a statement. In addition, the midwife training is massively endangered, because the practical instructions on the obstetric wards must be provided by midwives and cannot be delegated.
Ulrike Geppert-Orthofer appeals: “The irresponsible weakening of clinical obstetrics must come to an end.”
Sources used: change.org, dserver.bundestag.de, hebammenverband.de, bundestag.de
This article originally appeared on PARENTS.