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Obstetricians win pay rise for evening and weekend births

22:29 09/04/2018

Giving birth in a Belgian hospital will cost more at evenings and weekends from this summer.

A royal decree signed on Friday allows obstetricians for the first time to charge a higher rate for deliveries outside of ordinary weekday working hours.

However, health insurance body Inami says mothers should not notice the price hike, which will be entirely refunded by mutuelles at an estimated annual cost to the system of €8.6 million.

Marc Moens, president of the Belgian association of medical unions, Absym, said gynecologists had been campaigning for more than 10 years to be better compensated for evening and weekend deliveries. The new measures will come into effect from June.