In March, AAP revealed that women in need of emergency caesarean births were being strapped to a stretcher and carried down flights of stairs at Angliss Hospital in Melbourne's outer east.

Multiple women were put through the ordeal before maternity patients were instead sent to Box Hill Hospital, about 30 minutes away.

Eastern Health apologised while confirming the lift was not yet fixed and maternity patients were still being redirected.

"Repairs to the lift at the Angliss Hospital remain on track for a June completion with various international impacts causing some delay to this initial timeline," it said.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victorian branch secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said she had been told the replacement of the lift wouldn't be finished until July.

She said while the relocation of maternity services continued to cause logistical challenges for the midwifery workforce and women who wanted to access services closer to home, it remained the safest option.

Lauren Moore needed an emergency caesarean as her unborn son had become distressed on March 3 and had no idea it meant she would be carried down to the operating theatre because of the broken lift.

"I was scared because I thought I was going to slide off the stretcher but the staff were telling me I wasn't," the Ferntree Gully first-time mum told Leader Newspapers.

Local and Liberal MP for Eastern Victoria Region Cathrine Burnett-Wake said she had raised the broken lift in parliament twice since the incident in March.

"The stories of women being stretchered down the stairs are abhorrent for a health system in 2022," she told AAP.

National Association of Specialist Obstetricians and Gynaecologists president Gino Pecoraro said the situation across maternity services was dire.

He said many maternity wards were closing due to low birth rates and low staffing numbers across the nation, and once they closed there was little chance of them reopening.

Australian Associated Press