Pregnant Oamaru women are having to travel to Dunedin or Timaru for ultrasound scans, as Oamaru Hospital struggles to secure an ongoing sonography service.
Last week, Oamaru mother Louise Jones, who is 22 weeks pregnant, was told she would either have to travel to Timaru and pay $50 for a scan or to Dunedin, where she would have to pay $35.
''Those options are ludicrous to me; one, because we have to pay gas to get there and pay for the scans and two, people [have] to get time off work and to find babysitters for kids,'' she said.
The stay-at-home mother of two has gestational diabetes and already travels to Dunedin to see a specialist team monthly.
''Because I go visit my team in Dunedin I can get my scan done at the hospital and I have found a new midwife in Dunedin just so it's worth my while going there for the day so I'll have a day of appointments,'' she said.
''Other mums have to drive all that way just for a half-hour scan.''
Winter travel was a concern, she said, but overall it was a small price to pay to see her ''little one'' and get peace of mind.
Oamaru Hospital general manager Robert Gonzales said sonography was an essential service in the community. One sonographer is usually based at the Oamaru Hospital, but providing cover in her absence was ''difficult''.
''We're trying to secure a full-time service, but we're having a challenge,'' he said.
In the meantime, pregnant women were having to travel outside the district for specialist sonography services. Mr Gonzales apologised: ''We are sorry. We're working to retain a good level of local service for scanning,'' he said.
Oamaru Hospital is well equipped for an ultrasound service, recently acquiring a new GE Logiq E9 machine and can provide a variety of general ultrasound, obstetric and small-parts imaging.
