Due to obstetricians and gynaecologists, the infant mortality rate in the Netherlands is unnecessarily high.
The Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest infant mortality rate in Europe , which would be because midwives and gynaecologists be too cautious about childbirth. Thus gynecologist and professor of obstetrics Gerard Visser today in the Volkskrant. “The midwifery system in the Netherlands is outdated. We rely too much on nature here to solve it.”
Visser argues in favor of inducing labor after 41 weeks of pregnancy, which now often only happens after 42 weeks. His argument for this is that the chance of infant death at the end of the pregnancy. In the 42nd week of pregnancy, one to two more babies per thousand births die.
Vice president of the obstetrician association, Angela Verbeeten, confirms:"The risk of complications rises very slightly if you wait.’ But:‘If you induce labour, you actually get more complications.’
At the end of this year, the Ministry of Health will issue recommendations to reduce infant mortality in the Netherlands.
