Private delivery rooms in Suðuroy and Norðoyggjar

The delivery rooms at the hospitals in Klaksvík and Suðuroy were closed down a few years ago.

This means that pregnant women throughout the country now need to travel to Tórshavn well in advance of giving birth, and not many people are happy with this system, says Elsebeth Mercedis Gunnleygsdóttir, MP for the People’s Party (Fólkaflokkurin).

She has now asked health minister Sirið Stenberg whether she intends to establish a system which allows midwives to set up private delivery rooms.

Gunnleygsdóttir argues that there are no technical obstacles for offering private delivery services to pregnant women. She does not see any problems with setting up private delivery rooms in e.g. Suðuroy and Norðoyggjar.

According to the law of authorisation, midwives are authorised not only to deliver babies but also to work independently.

Under the current system, pregnant women who want to give birth in a private delivery room must pay for the service.

The MP added that the amount spent on each pregnant woman by the public hospital service could easily be transferred to private delivery rooms.

She also asked the health minister whether she intends to reopen the delivery rooms at the hospitals in Klaksvík and Suðuroy in case of failure to secure public funding for private delivery rooms.