Overview
- The Sanatorio Finochietto closed its obstetrics and neonatology services this week and notified patients while activating referral protocols to other hospitals.
- The hospital described the move as a reorganization to strengthen higher-demand care and intends to convert the former maternity space into new operating rooms and ambulatory care units.
- About 30 staff members in the maternity area — doctors, nurses and auxiliary personnel — face uncertain outcomes as the sanatorio considers reassignments or severance agreements.
- The decision comes against a steep national decline in births, with official data showing a fall from roughly 777,000 births in 2014 to about 413,135 in 2024.
- The closure is an example of how demographic change is reshaping health services by shifting capacity away from inpatient perinatal care toward surgical and outpatient work and by altering patient referral patterns in the city.