Rural pregnant women in the northwestern province of Shaanxi will enjoy free childbirth as a hospital maternity grant project kicks off in May.

According to Shaanxi provincial health bureau, the project will be carried out on May 1 in the province's 104 counties and districts where there are rural populations and the average grant to a pregnant woman for her childbirth in hospital is 800 yuan (US$117) per person.

The fund required for the implementation of the project will be 224 million yuan this year, the initial budget compiled by the provincial finance department showed.

Yang Fuying, deputy director of Shaanxi health department, told China Daily that rural pregnant women will receive proper services in the approved hospitals with good equipments and technologies.

"The township clinics which lack technology and equipments will be banned from carrying out operation for women of difficult birth, delivery of women with advanced age and high risk, cesarean section and induced abortion for late pregnant women, in order to ensure safety and health for the women," Yang said.

There are some poverty-stricken farmers who had childbirth at home instead of going to hospital, as they could not pay the childbirth costs at hospital, and the improper conditions for childbirth at home caused gynecologic disease and neonatal disease and sometimes death.

Wang Huixia, a pregnant woman from Chang'an district in Xi'an, capital of the province, felt happy to learn the news with the saying that she would have better and free medical treatment provided by the project for her delivery in July.

"My sister-in-law gave birth to her daughter at home two years ago and she had disease after her delivery. I think she was harmed by poor conditions for childbirth at home," Wang said.

According to the project, rural pregnant women will not pay the service which is in the grant list during their stay at hospital and the costs will be paid to the hospital by the project after the woman completes her treatment.

According to Yang, those rural women who have serious obstetric complications during their childbirth will be supported by a fixed grant of 2,000 yuan per person.

The project will start its trial on May 1, and will be officially put into full operation on May 10. By the year of 2012, the maternal rate of hospital deliveries is planned to be at least 95 percent in every county in the province.

(China Daily April 27, 2009)