The final pieces of Saskatchewan’s midwifery legislation were proclaimed in mid-March, ending a nine-year process to establish the profession’s place in the provincial health-care system.
That is a good move, especially for rural women who generally have to go to city hospitals to have their babies, says Saskatoon-based midwife Debbie Mpofu.
“We do want to help rural women. I think they are really challenged. We need this service to spread.”
Mpofu said the legislative action means that the government will pay for the services of midwives employed by a health region. The midwives will also get liability insurance.
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Mpofu said in an unregulated environment, women took risks using midwives and also had to pay for the service out of their own pockets. Even with the service unregulated, last year one Saskatchewan midwife attended 32 births.
Last year the province established the Saskatchewan College of Midwives. The sections proclaimed recently recognize that the college will regulate midwives. The college will have the authority to enact bylaws and manage the affairs and business of the profession. The government also approved a bylaw enabling midwives to provide postpartum care.
Health minister Don McMorris said midwives will be able to practise privately, and charge clients directly, or be employed by the regional health authorities.
He told reporters that the Regina and Saskatoon health regions should each have four midwives working this year.
“It’s just another option for expectant mothers,” McMorris said, but the practice could also ease pressure on some doctors.
Midwives will be able to prescribe drugs commonly used during pregnancy, birth and post-partum, as well as order tests and assessments, including ultrasounds. They will have hospital privileges and perform deliveries there or in clients’ homes.
Midwives have been able to offer their services while unregulated but had to transfer care to doctors if a woman had to have her baby in a hospital.
McMorris said midwives have helped women for thousands of years.
“Today, midwives are respected members of the health-care community, providing safe and flexible care centred on the needs of the mother and her family,” he said.
NDP health critic Judy Junor, who was the associate health minister when the legislation was first introduced, thanked midwives for their patience.
“As an obstetrical nurse I appreciate the valuable contributions that midwives will bring to women in labour and actually in postpartum and all through the pregnancy,” she said.
Saskatchewan is the seventh jurisdiction in Canada to pass legislation allowing regulated midwifery services.
A handful of midwives are listed on the Midwives of Saskatchewan Association website at www.saskatchewanmidwives.com.
Mpofu said there are no training courses for midwives in Saskatchewan. There is one in British Columbia and three sites in Ontario. Mpofu trained in the United Kingdom and then had to pass a Canadian qualifying exam to practise in Saskatchewan. She said there are two qualified midwives practising in the province and four others at different stages of readiness.
