A change in China's one child policy is set to put an even bigger strain on the country's midwives, china.org.cn reports.
Zhang Cuiqiong, 46, who has worked as a midwife for more than 20 years, is gearing up for the busiest year ever, as China’s relaxation of its one-child policy further strains the country's midwife shortage.
I have seen a midwife help deliver 22 newborns in one single day in my hospital. And the record will surely be broken soon,” said Zhang, who serves at the No. 2 People’s Hospital of Guangdong Province.
The Province is expected to see a big baby boom after relaxing its birth control policy in late March to allow couples to have a second baby if either parent is an only child.
Guangdong has a population of more than 100 million and is the country’s most populous province and about 150,000 households there are now qualified to have a second child.
It's estimated that the southern province will see the number of babies born increase by 10,000 to 15,000 this year.
The years 2015 and 2016 will be the peak of the baby boom, with an increase of about 70,000 and 89,000 newborns respectively,” said Chen Yiping, deputy director with the Guangdong Provincial Health and Family Planning Commission.
Last November, the Communist Party decided the country would relax its family planning policy. China has a midwife gap of 800,000, based on a ratio of 1,000 fertile women to one midwife in developed countries, said the National Health and Family Planning Commission.
