Programs in the 10 major areas, including beefing up the health and medical service by improving the grass-roots medical system, will be financed by a stimulus package estimated at four trillion yuan over the next two years. This package included money already allocated and schemes already begun when the package was announced.

"The package is working for the economy and is conducive to the improvement of ordinary people's livelihoods and social harmony," Sun said.

Still a challenging job in mountain areas

In neighboring Gansu Province, a program of free birth was launched in 2007, said Zhang Cunlian, director of Division of Women, Children, and Community Healthcare, Department of Health of the province.

In the program, rural women in 55 poverty-stricken counties are fully exempted from hospital charges.

In Gansu, a long and narrow shaped province, transportation in remote mountain areas was a big headache for expectant women, said Zhang.

"We are expecting more automobiles in our service," she said. "Even a motorcycle would be a big help to carry an expectant women from the mountain areas to a hospital."

The program was expanded to 64 counties in 2008 and the costs are covered by the central and provincial finance, she adds.

"We are about to expand the program to more expectant, rural women in our province with more financial resources," she added.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2008)