A group of pregnant women held a silent protest on September 7 with a poster saying, “LSMU, let us choose to give birth at the Christian Maternity Home.”
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After the protest, participants handed over a family appeal to the LSMU management.
LSMU does not comment on the situation to journalists – it directs them to the other stakeholder, the Ministry of Health (SAM). It is claimed that on September 10 there will be a stakeholders’ meeting, after which a firmer position may become clear.
15min reports that SAM is currently looking for ways to cover the debt of the Christian Maternity Home, which exceeds one million euros.
This is stress
Rasa Gželkytė, a pregnant participant in the protest, said that she gave birth to her first child three years ago precisely at the Christian Maternity Home – she traveled there even from Molėtai, although Vilnius was closer.
“Based on good experience, I would very much like to give birth to my second child here as well. Safe delivery, responsive staff who know how to meet a woman’s expectations, a family-friendly model, a private room, respect for the person, listening to needs. When it is a low-risk birth, that is what you want – to feel safe and calm at such a sensitive moment,” said Rasa.
According to her, the closure of one maternity home after another (almost a year ago, the legendary P. Mažylis Maternity Home, operating since 1936, was closed in Kaunas) means stress for pregnant women and those planning children: if your needs are slightly different, if you do not want to give birth in the largest clinics, you are forced to look for other alternatives.
“Stress has been bothering me since March or April when the news about the closure was announced. The initial plan was that the maternity home would no longer operate in September. I was already looking for alternatives in my mind.
It is sad that in the face of a demographic crisis, when priorities for family, women, and childbirth are declared, the actions still show something else,” expressed disappointment the interviewee.
Her due date is September 9, so the pregnant woman is glad that, at least theoretically, she will still manage to give birth at the Christian Maternity Home.
When it is a low-risk birth, that is what you want.
Rasa hopes for a farsighted approach to this problem.
“We are trying to represent the clearly expressed needs of families that such homes are necessary for Lithuania – the only institution corresponding to the model of a natural birth center,” emphasized Rasa.
According to her, the reluctance of part of the Christian Maternity Home staff to move to the hospital unit operating on Josvainiai Street says a lot. Large institutions have their pros and cons – not all women are interested in “more staff,” “more equipment.”
Hopes it will not be just talk
Another pregnant woman participating in the protest, Kornelija Kubilienė, was glad that the changed position of the current minister gave some hope. She hopes that it will not be just talk, that real actions are being taken and a solution will be found.
The woman previously gave birth in a large LSMU Kaunas hospital department, so she felt that even before labor started, the medical institution was already looking for reasons not to release her, to “close” her case.
“It caused a lot of stress. There was no respect. Tests at 6 a.m. It turned out to be a sleepless night. When labor started, I was already exhausted, with no strength left. The labor was long,” the woman recalled. –
Here, at the Christian Maternity Home, there is a day hospital where you come, get checked, and are sent home. You can spend half of the labor time at home because you know you were just examined and checked – you can calmly be with contractions and come back again. And the conditions… There are no toilets in hospital delivery rooms; women in labor have to walk through the entire corridor to the toilet during labor. Some faint while walking.”
She knows that the situation in the hospital is changing, but it will take time to reach the level already created at the Christian Maternity Home.
The third pregnant woman interviewed, Justina, said she is protesting so that women have the opportunity to choose where to give birth. She might choose to have her baby at the Christian Maternity Home, but this option may no longer be available – her due date is scheduled for the end of October.
“The staff at the Christian Maternity Home stand out – they look at the patient not as some unit but as a person, a personality. Not a conveyor belt, as others call the large hospitals,” she emphasized, having had her first child at Kaunas clinics.
Justina pointed out that maternity homes are being closed in surrounding cities as well, so everyone comes to Kaunas.
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Feels the minister’s support
As Jarūnė Rimavičė, representative of the family initiative group “Save Kaunas Christian Maternity Home,” said, the protest is held at a very important time for the future of the Christian Maternity Home.
“Only a few weeks remain until the planned reorganization, but the Minister of Health, Linas Kukuraitis, has publicly announced that he is seeking a solution to preserve the Christian Maternity Home and continue the service important to families. The minister also confirmed that negotiations are currently underway with the other LSMU Kaunas hospital stakeholder – the university, and according to him, the parties are ‘approaching agreements,’” said J. Rimavičė.
The preservation of the maternity home is supported by more than 13,500 people who signed an electronic petition, and the presidential advisory team has also expressed support for the preservation direction.
The family initiative group emphasizes that the main buildings of the Christian Maternity Home on Miško Street belong to the Republic of Lithuania, and the LSMU Kaunas hospital has been entrusted with their management – therefore, the ownership of the buildings itself is not an obstacle for the state and hospital stakeholders to agree on preserving the maternity home’s operation.
What is hindering?
Families have not yet heard clear public approval from LSMU for preserving the Christian Maternity Home.
Therefore, pregnant women came to the university with a very simple message – “LSMU, let us choose to give birth at the Christian Maternity Home.”
She wanted to ask the university management one specific question: what exactly is preventing LSMU today from approving the preservation of the Christian Maternity Home?
The family initiative group’s position: while negotiations are ongoing, there is still a chance to find a solution together with SAM and preserve what later cannot be quickly restored: the team of the historically very popular maternity home among mothers, its competencies, the family-friendly birth culture, the infrastructure adapted for it, and the real opportunity for families to choose to give birth where they want.
Argument of declining birth rate
15min reminds that according to the LSMU Kaunas hospital reorganization plan, births at Miško Street are planned to be stopped and from October 1 obstetric services transferred to the hospital unit on Josvainiai Street.
The reorganization is based on the declining number of births and financial arguments.
After news about the planned reorganization spread, there was widespread public resistance.
If the currently planned transfer of birth services is implemented, only a small part of the current birth team would move. According to data held by the family initiative group, only 4 out of 14 KGN midwives intend to move to the LSMU Kaunas hospital Josvainiai Street unit, and among the 12 KGN obstetrician-gynecologists, the total workload of those moving will not reach 2 full-time positions.
Such numbers allegedly hardly align with the publicly declared goal of preserving the staff and their good practice as much as possible during the reorganization.
International experts propose evaluating a new birth care model.
In July, a proposal was submitted to both LSMU Kaunas hospital stakeholders – SAM and the university – prepared by experts from St. George’s University of London City, representatives of the European network of midwife-led units, and a senior Lithuanian midwife working in the United Kingdom, to assess the possibility of developing an independent midwife-led birth unit based on the Christian Maternity Home, intended for low-risk pregnancies and births.
This model would allow the use of the competencies and infrastructure already accumulated by the maternity home, while adapting the international practice of midwife-led units to Lithuanian conditions.
Similar trend across Lithuania
Over the past decade, about 14 obstetric departments in Lithuania have stopped providing birth services, and birth care is increasingly concentrated in larger hospitals. The declining number of births and the financial maintenance of smaller departments have become some of the main arguments for network reorganization.
Some institutions that no longer provide birth services today were significantly modernized earlier with state and international funds. Lithuanian and Swiss cooperation programs invested in infrastructure, medical equipment, specialist competencies, and improving patient experience.
However, good patient evaluations did not ensure the survival of birth places: the highly valued Trakai obstetric unit and P. Mažylis Maternity Home no longer accept births, and now it is planned to stop them at the Christian Maternity Home, which is very well valued by families.
