Restructuring, loss of money, drop in the number of deliveries … more and more maternity hospitals are closing their doors. Each time it is the incomprehension and the perplexity which dominates among the staff of the hospital and the inhabitants. Then the revolt, the arm wrestling that begins. It is this fight that the director Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar has decided to bring to the screen with “ Bowling » a deeply human film, between comedy and social drama. In 2008, the case had caused a stir. Threatened with closure, the maternity hospital of Carhaix was saved thanks to the relentless fight of its population. Midwives, residents, elected officials and even an improvised collective of pregnant women had fought for many months to demand the annulment of this unjust decision. Never has a cause mobilized so much. On June 25, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) capitulated. Popular solidarity had finally paid off. It was four years ago. Even if the situation in Carhaix is still fragile, the extent of this social conflict has served as a kind of detonator for future mobilizations.
In the sights of local maternity hospitals
Since Carhaix, the scenario has been repeated in other maternities but the outcome has not always been favorable. Demonstrations, petitions are no longer enough to spare the small maternities. Recently, it was in Ambert, in the Puy-de-Dôme. 173 monthly births, too few for the regional health agencies… Who are these organizations that make local maternity hospitals tremble? Created in 2009, the ARS are responsible for implementing the reform of the health system. And to cut back on too unprofitable maternity hospitals? The subject is sensitive and opinions diverge. For some, this is a necessary evil, while for others, these closures jeopardize the healthcare offer and inexorably extend the geographical distances to get to the hospital.
From Carhaix … to La Seyne-sur-Mer
Still, the examples are numerous. The future of the maternity hospital in La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var) is still uncertain. Despite the mobilization of the whole city, the ARS ratified the closure of this establishment and the transfer of the delivery site to the Sainte-Musse hospital in Toulon. Last summer, Mayor Marc Vuillemot cycled 950 km to Paris, where he handed over a petition of more than 20 signatures to former Secretary of State for Health Nora Berra. The mobilization continues today. And it even seems that larger maternity wards are not immune to the wave of closures. “Motherhood is saved (for the moment)! Thank you all for your fervent support! », Can we read on the website of the Collectif de la Lilac maternity. It took a year of mobilization to save the establishment and its expansion project, suddenly suspended by the Regional Health Agency (ARS). However, more than 1700 deliveries are performed each year, and an unprecedented approach to birth, on which motherhood has made its reputation. And in Paris, it is the famous institution of bluets who is in danger. Not sure that maternity hospitals will resist this general movement of restructuring and concentration for long. But each time, they are determined to make their voices heard.