An obstetrician's warning the maternity system's too stretched - to cope with increasing how long women can stay in hospital after giving birth

A new Bill aims to lift the current 48 hours of funded inpatient post-natal care, to 72.

Diana Ackerman, from the Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, says unless it gets more resources - it'll come at a cost to other care.

She says if post-natal women occupy more beds, it's possible there won't be beds for other elective gynaecological surgeries.