Female inequity is a likely underlying reason behind OB/GYN staffing shortages and the ongoing maternity diversions at local hospitals, including White Rock’s Peace Arch Hospital, says one top Fraser Health physician.
Dr. Darren Lazare, Fraser Health’s co-program medical director for the Maternal Infant Child Youth program, said the current diversions at local maternity wards — including Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock and Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge — are due to a shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists.
“We have had shortages in the past of pediatrics. The issue that we’re having (now) is just due to normal attrition and retirement,” Lazare noted, but pointed to gender inequity between male and female patients — as well as the fact doctors are still reimbursed much more for procedures on male patients than female patients — as a likely underlying factor in the staffing shortages.
“Procedures performed on female patients are reimbursed at about 26 to 27 per cent less than procedures for men … that’s well-documented. That’s a fact, it’s not an opinion,” Lazare said Tuesday, prior to another maternity diversion that started at 8 a.m. Thursday (Jan. 22) at Peace Arch Hospital, which is set to last until Monday, Jan. 26 at 8 a.m. “I think has an impact on people choosing this profession.”
Women must also wait much longer for care because of a lack of obstetricians and gynecologists through not only Fraser Health, but the entire province, he said.
“We know that wait times for patients to see providers is far outside of acceptable … to give you an example, I’m a reconstructive gynecologist, and what we know is that the average wait time to see somebody in our group is over 70 weeks, which is 1.3 years,” Lazare said.
“That’s the wait time from referral to actually being treated and having your surgery. And that has been the norm for many years. And that’s for women with devastating problems that prevent them from being able to leave their homes, being able to function in the workplace, being able to be a partner or a mother, or a part of society,” he said.
“These women suffer greatly. And that’s just one example.”
Lazare said what is happening in the Lower Mainland is happening across B.C. and Canada.
“I think what you’re seeing here in maternity is the canary in the coal mine … it’s a small part, an important part, of a bigger picture,” Lazare said.
Peace Arch News has reached out to B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne about the issue.
Larger picture aside, the Fraser Health website created for the PAH and RMH maternity diversions notes that one new physician is set to join the White Rock hospital’s team this spring, but Lazare said maternity diversions may still occur unless more staff are hired.
“They need a cohort of about six specialist OB/GYNs at Peace Arch in order to adequately cover the service without running into burnout and other problems, and they’re down to three,” Lazare said.