No immediate plans to segregate women who miscarry from expectant mothers

There is no immediate plan at Mater Dei Hospital to segregate women who have a miscarriage from mothers with new born babies, the Health Ministry has confirmed. 

The practice to keep women who miscarry in the same wards as other women was described as “cruel” by Labour MP Katya De Giovanni last week. 

Health Minister Jo-Etienne Abela has practically confirmed that the situation today is exactly as it was 18 months ago when the ministry had said it was planning to create a separate unit for women who miscarry. 

Abela told MaltaToday that the ministry and the management at Mater Dei Hospital are looking at a short and a long-term vision to deal with this situation. 

“The short-term plan is, to discuss together with the medical direction, nursing as well as concerned unions, a solution in existing wards inside Mater Dei,” Abela said. 

He added the long-term plan is to separate gynaecology and obstetrics into distinct sections. “Our objective is always to safeguard both the physical and mental health of the patient in such a delicate and sensitive time,” Abela said. 

The replies add nothing to comments the ministry had given Times of Malta in August 2022 when the newspaper reported on an incident involving a woman who had miscarried. 

The ministry had said back then that Mater Dei was “in the process of setting up an early pregnancy unit” where expectant mothers experiencing problems, such as a miscarriage, will be supported in an area separate. 

But the ministry had also said the logistics, including where to house the unit, were “still being planned”. 

It appears that the planning is still going on a year-and-a-half later. 

The manner by which miscarriages are handled in hospitals was brought up as far back as 2007 when Mater Dei opened its doors and operations were being transferred from St Luke’s Hospital. 

At the time the government had said that women who suffer a miscarriage will be kept in a separate room once the obstetrics services moved to the new hospital. Nothing of the sort ever happened. 

In a parliamentary adjournment speech last week, Labour MP Katya De Giovanni shared her personal miscarriage experience from 20 years ago. 

She argued that women who have miscarried should not be in the same hospital ward as expectant mothers, or women who have just given birth. 

She described this practice as “cruel” and called for greater awareness on the trauma miscarriage causes to women and their partners. 

“I spent a year, existing not living and no one could help me,” De Giovanni said, adding the country needs to do “much, much more” to address the trauma. 

She called for a stronger bereavement service provided by midwives and the need to speak about miscarriage in pregnancy preparatory courses. 

De Giovanni said the topic should also feature in PSCD classes in schools and called for better training of professionals in the way they deliver the bad news.