MARTINSVILLE, Va. — A southside Virginia hospital has announced it is temporarily closing its labor and delivery unit.
Sovah Health CEO Spencer Thomas told the Martinsville Bulletin Wednesday that delivery services at its Martinsville campus would be temporarily paused. Instead, the company will “facilitate all deliveries” at its Danville campus. The two cities are about 30 miles apart.
“We assessed our obstetrics (OB) care model and found that the demographics and needs of our community have changed and deliveries have declined by 60% at our Martinsville campus since 2015. Therefore, we are implementing temporary changes while we work to create a new delivery model for OB care between Sovah’s two hospital campuses," the statement said.
The announcement came the same week GOP Rep. Morgan Griffith visited the area to discuss the issue of declining medical care for women in rural areas, the newspaper reported.
