Couples sit on stools waiting in a line outside a maternity hospital in Chongqing Municipality on March 31, 2014, all to consult doctors about test-tube babies.
(ECNS) -- Long queues have been forming outside a maternity hospital in Chongqing Municipality in Southwestern China for days, as many middle-aged couples seek to consider test-tube technology for a second child, a local newspaper reported.
More than 62 people sat on stools waiting in a line longer than 20 meters on Monday morning, all to consult doctors about test-tube babies.
A test-tube baby refers to a child conceived through in-vitro fertilization, a medical technique in which a woman's egg is placed with her husband's sperm in a laboratory environment to promote fertilization.
A woman surnamed Zhang, in the queue with his husband, said she has a 17-year-old son, but longed for a second child. “Since I am 44 years old, the doctor advised us to seek high-tech ways,” Zhang said.
The majority of people in the queue are middle-aged.
A medical staffer at the hospital said many people have been queuing every day recently, and they are trying to get more people registered.
A man in the queue said he came here at 1 am, as he didn’t get a numbered ticket last time. Another man surnamed Zhang said the tickets are handed out at midnight, and they have to queue for nearly 24 hours.
Other than restroom breaks, everyone sits there and waits.
The city relaxed its one-child policy this week, allowing couples to have a second baby if either parent is an only child.
