The CEO of the Interior Health Authority says maternal services being cut at the hospital in Williams Lake is unfortunate for expecting mothers.

Susan Brown reaffirms though that help is on the way for training maternal nurses to work at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital.

“We are having a number of RNs take the maternity specialty course, and they are at various stages coming out of that training. So we hope this is short term, and soon that it will go back to regular business.”

And she hopes renovations worth more than $100 million dollars coming to the hospital will further help the situation.

“We hope that the maternity program there gets included in part of that, which would then, again, hopefully attract staff to that area.”

IHA suspended maternal services at Cariboo Memorial Hospital last week due to a staffing shortage, and the closure could last through the spring.

In the meantime, expecting mothers are being referred to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, which IH says is prepared to take on the added care needs. The health authority expects the closure at CMH will affect about one expecting mother per day.