The maternity ward is the department of the hospital that is dedicated to the care of women who are about to give birth as well as their newborn infants. It generally consists of:
- Rooms for women in labor, which can be equipped with vital signs monitors for both the mother and the fetus, which can also be used for post-natal recovery
- Sterile birthing rooms, for delivery of the baby, which can accommodate a delivery team of an obstetrician and nurses
- The neo-natal intensive care unit or NICU, for treatment of premature infants and full term newborns in distress
- An obstetrical surgery unit, usually for performing a caesarean section
- A lounge reserved for the obstetricians