BUSINESS DIGEST || Medical center to end maternity services

SALEM

Salem Regional Medical Center, an independent nonprofit hospital, announced plans Friday to close maternity services by the end of its fiscal year, June 30.

Current maternity patients scheduled to deliver after that date will be sent to other area maternity providers.

According to a medical center news release, as Columbiana County’s population ages, the area’s birth rate has been declining, yielding a drop of 15.6 percent in overall births from 2009 to 2017. During the same period of time, the number of babies born at SRMC has also decreased, with births falling from 714 in 2009 to 423 last year.