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Poland’s delivery wards offer sub-standard care, auditors say

PR dla Zagranicy
Alicja Baczyńska 27.07.2016 14:08
Poland's central audit office has slammed hospitals over what it says are failures to meet rules on providing proper care for women in labour.
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Supreme Audit Office (NIK) inspectors surveyed 24 hospitals nationwide. Faults listed by the authors of the report include the common use of the Kristeller maneuver, where the doctor applies manual pressure on a woman’s abdomen to push the fetus out at birth. Up to 11 percent of Polish female patients in the surveyed wards were subjected to the practice, the report finds.

Two out of three wards inspected by NIK have failed to cater to the women’s need for privacy. At one hospital the delivering women could be seen through a window looking out to the corridor, in several other cases the birthing beds in delivery rooms were directed towards the door.

The Health Ministry responds that the practices listed by NIK are caused by the poor financial condition of facilities, alongside a shortage and - in the case of some hospitals - a complete lack of specialized training related to perinatal care.

“A special team has been set up to diagnose the obstacles to meeting standards in the field and working out effective solutions,” ministry spokesperson Milena Kruszewska told the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily. (aba)

Source: Dziennik Gazeta Prawna

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