It would not have been the first in the State, but in the Valencian Community, and women's groups appeal to that "pioneer" character to defend the birth house that the Botànic government promised to build in Vila-real, next to the La hospital. Plana (Castellón), and whose economic allocation is not in the budgets of the Generalitat Valenciana.
Last Wednesday, in parliament, Compromís deputy Mónica Àlvaro asked Health Minister Marciano Gómez what was going to happen with the project, and the head acknowledged that right now this is not a "priority." "The government of President Mazón is not against the birth center, what it is for is the priority that the citizens of La Plana, of which there are 168,000, in the 21st century in a Western country can have colonoscopies with sedation," answered.
The answer surprises Álvaro, since months ago he had already asked Gómez in writing about this same project and his response stated that he had already been awarded the drafting of the project and the voluntary direction of the technical team and that it was "in drafting." "I don't see that it is not a priority. Health figures say that in all of Castellón, in eight months, 119 colonoscopies were performed. In the La Plana hospital there is an average of 96 births per month," argues Álvaro.
At the parliamentary headquarters, reinforcing the question, and above all listening to the counselor's response, there was a group of women, representatives of different feminist associations for which the project is fundamental. Among them, the Comares Association of the Valencian Community, whose president Susi Obiol explains to La Vanguardia that "although we understand that management is difficult when allocating budgets, it was a project that was already underway with the award and change "It has been shocking for the group."
Like Obiol, there are many other women defending the project, members of more than twenty associations (among them, the Nursing Council of the Valencian Community) who have signed a manifesto to demand that the Generalitat resume the project planned for a plot of land. annex to the La Plana hospital. "The birth homes are framed within the WHO recommendations on the leadership contribution of midwives in low-risk births and in northern Europe, where there are many examples, they have been shown to provide many benefits," explains Obiol.
Although he does not lose hope that it will be carried out - "there is a lot of work behind it and a lot of preparation," he says - he regrets that the Valencian Community is going to lose the opportunity to "offer a paradigm shift." Aida Máñez, spokesperson for El Parto es Nuestro - an entity that is also a signatory - emphasizes this aspect and assures that it is "an investment that may be of interest to the Ministry. We are not saying that sedation in the colonoscopies cited by the counselor is not important, but thanks to saving epidurals, healthcare costs can also be improved," he argues.
Máñez wants the proposal to reach the ears of President Carlos Mazón - "we get the impression that they may not know the project well" - and insists that it is essential to highlight that women want to stop giving birth in a medicalized environment. "There is obstetric tourism. They recommend places where they let you use the ball, be calmer... women look for different spaces because when you are pregnant you are not sick," she maintains.
The documentary Parir also talks about this new paradigm, which reflects the struggle of the midwives for the project and, in fact, the film also includes the vote in Corts Valencianes with the previous government. For the group, the references are the various projects that already exist in Catalonia, where, for example, the Casa Laietània birth center operates at the Germans Trias Hospital in Badalona, which is publicly managed. In the Balearic Islands, the regional government also paralyzed the Son Espases birthing center at the end of the year, alleging in this case deficiencies in the project.
