When women become pregnant, they normally start receiving regular checkups at clinics or hospitals. But the number of cases in which women whose contractions have begun suddenly visit medical institutions for the first time is increasing. Failure to receive regular checkups not only raises health risks but also puts additional burdens on obstetricians.
Because of the nationwide shortage of obstetricians working under a tight schedule, sudden visits by women in labor can cause a confusion in obstetrics wards. Obstetricians in such a situation are likely to be reluctant to take care of such women because they don't have previous checkup records.
A tragedy occurred in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, last August. A pregnant woman being transported by ambulance was refused admittance by 12 hospitals. She had a stillbirth inside the ambulance. She had not gone through regular checkups. If she had done so, she would have been accepted by the medical institution that had examined her or another institution that was part of a network of perinatal care institutions.