The agreement allowing expectant mothers from the Italian side of the border to deliver at the Šempeter maternity hospital has not brought substantial changes. Few of expectant mothers chose to deliver their babies in this hospital.

When the Maternity hospital in Gorizia across the border was closed a year ago due to the low number of births, the representatives of the hospital in Nova Gorica and of the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia region signed an agreement making it possible for the pregnant women from the neighbouring Gorizia region to give birth at the Slovenian hospital.
The interstate agreement however did not result in interstate births. Dr. Zvonko Šoštarič, specialized in gynaecology and obstetrics, also a long-term head of the gynaecology-obstetric ward of the Šempeter Maternity hospital, said: "In the year during which the agreement on cross-border maternity hospital has been valid less than ten birthing mothers came from Italy." The actual head of the Šempeter Maternity hospital dr. Neda Bizjak blames also the lack of information available to expectant mothers in the neighbourhood. "Lack of information might be the cause they don't choose our hospital. The Italian media even published some articles spreading false information about our Maternity Hospital. They blamed us for lack of expertise, and poor equipment. Obviously some people from the neighbourhood are annoyed by a Maternity Hospital from the other side of the border."

The interstate agreement allowing the Italian women to give birth in our hospital is strictly limited. It is valid only for the expectant mothers from Gorizia and the neighbouring municipalites, i.e. Fara (Farra d’Isonzo), Moš (Mossa), Števerjan (San Floriano del Collio), Šlovrenc (San Lorenzo) and Sovodnje (Savogna). The number of births there has been low, which was also the reason the Maternity Ward in Gorizia, Italy has been closed. A year before the ward was closed only 276 deliveries were recorded.