Physician calls on province to pay for more doctors to deliver babies in northern Ont.

Sensenbrenner Hospital is the only hospital between Timmins and Thunder Bay with an obstetrics department. Pregnant women are advised to relocate at 38 weeks. (Lydia Chubak/CTV News Northern Ontario)

Between Timmins and Thunder Bay, only Sensenbrenner Hospital in Kapuskasing has an operating obstetrics department.

Chief of staff Dr. Jessica Kwapis said Sensenbrenner currently has three physicians who can deliver babies, but due to the heavy workload, one is resigning in December.

"We are back to the situation with two physicians who are providing the coverage and who are frankly unable to maintain 24-7, 365 (day) coverage any longer," Kwapis said.

"We need to not only recruit another GP physician to fill that third vacancy, but also in the meantime we need to be able to provide or to have locum or visiting GPs come and provide obstetrical care to fill those gaps."

Sensenbrenner Hospital is also experiencing additional pressure since Notre-Dame Hospital in Hearst closed their obstetrical service in June 2023 because of the retirement of their only obstetrical provider -- who also had been working seven days a week -- unless he was out of town -- for more than 25 years.

Kwapis said since that retirement, seven women in Hearst delivered babies outside of a centre with obstetrical care.

"That includes in a taxi, that includes in an ambulance en route to another hospital, it includes in the bathroom of an emergency department where there are no obstetrical staff," she said.

"If you think seven women doesn't sound like a lot, that's seven out of 100 women over that period of time -- that is seven per cent of women who delivered outside of an obstetrical centre because there was no care available to them. This is completely unacceptable and it's unsafe."

Kwapis said Sensenbrenner needs provincial funding to pay for doctors willing to travel to Kapuskasing to fill in.

No way to pay them

"There is no mechanism currently to pay a GP to come to a community like Kapuskasing and provide 24/7 availability for obstetrical coverage," she said.

"For the last several months, the hospital has been, in fact, paying for this because we've been so committed to making sure that the service could remain open. We thought that was going to be a time-limited thing with our service providers starting, but now it looks like that's going to be the case indefinitely."

CTV News asked for an interview with the Ministry of Health about the current situation. A spokesperson emailed a statement instead. It reads:

"The Ministry of Health is aware of the request from Kapuskasing and Hearst. As this is a net new proposal, it requires review and work in collaboration with the Ontario Medical Association to analyze the submission."

Sensenbrenner Hospital advises pregnant women who live in the Hearst area to relocate at 38 weeks to ensure they are in a safe place when the time comes to deliver, especially with winter weather on the way.

Kwapis said she is sorry about that and realizes it’s not financially feasible for many families.

"My advice would be to, first of all, make as much noise about the situation as you can and if you yourselves can talk to your MPP … write letters,” she said.

The Ministry of Health said its government has launched the largest medical school expansion in more than 15 years, adding hundreds of new undergraduate and residency positions at all of Ontario’s medical schools.

Kwapis said Sensenbrenner Hospital has no time to wait for the students to graduate -- it urgently needs some funding to bridge the obstetrics crisis until it can get a formal agreement in place.