Maternal services at the hospital in Williams Lake will be partially back to normal beginning tomorrow.

Interior Health says low-risk deliveries will resume at the Cariboo Memorial Hospital. The hospital suspended maternal services in February because of a staffing shortage.

IHA West executive director of hospitals David Matear says two new full-time maternal nurses have now started, and a third will be hired in June.

“And of course, we have our additional Cariboo Memorial nurses who are currently being trained in maternity care and they are expected to be ready to support Cariboo area patients by the end of June. So there are seven of those nurses currently in that specialty training program.”

Since then, Matear says 51 expecting mothers from the area have given birth elsewhere, including 38 at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops. He says 10 expecting mothers have given birth at CMH under urgent circumstances.

As for a timeline for a full re-opening of the maternity ward, Matear says IHA will look at that on a week-by-week basis.