Masada shuts baby unit
MOTHERS living in the heart of Jewish Melbourne will have to travel further from home to give birth, after Masada Private Hospital announced recently it would close its obstetrics division.
MOTHERS living in the heart of Jewish Melbourne will have to travel further from home to give birth, after Masada Private Hospital announced recently it would close its obstetrics division.
Petra Snelleman, CEO of the St Kilda East hospital, which is owned by medical group Ramsay Health Care, confirmed that from February 1, 2011, babies will not be born at Masada.
“We’re going to give up our obstetrics because we just can’t compete,” Snelleman told The AJN.
She added there were a number of high-quality private maternity hospitals in the area and Masada’s small maternity ward “has been unsustainable for some time”.
But the decision has disappointed a number of doctors, who spoke anonymously to The AJN about the closure, and also members of the Orthodox community, who found the maternity ward conveniently located so families could walk to
visit on Shabbat and holidays.
The closest private maternity hospital is now three kilometres away – Cabrini Health in Malvern.
In place of the obstetrics ward, Masada will develop its mother-baby program.
The program will help new mothers learn skills to deal with conditions ranging from infant distress and sleep issues, to post-natal depression, which affects 14 per cent of new mums.
“We have recently appointed some new specialists who are highly regarded in this area and we are looking forward to developing our range of programs with them and providing families with more support following the birth of their babies,” Snelleman said.
The CEO added that the hospital would provide assistance to mothers-to-be booked into Masada beyond February,
However, one doctor, who practises at Masada but wished to remain anonymous, said pregnant women had expressed concerns to him they would be stranded without a bed after January 31.
NAOMI LEVIN
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