(ECNS) -- All general hospitals in Beijing will be required to establish obstetric department for the upcoming baby boom as couples will be officially allowed to have a second baby no later than next year.
Beijing is among the first group of Chinese cities to respond to the central government's move last month to scrap the decades-long one-child policy.
Beijing's health and family planning commission estimates that Beijing will see a surge in newborns in 2016, the year of the Monkey, a traditionally lucky year for having babies. The second-child policy will give another boost to the birthrate, increasing the population by 300 thousand.
The government is preparing for the baby boom by establishing obstetric departments in all general hospitals in Beijing, according to head of the commission Fang Laiying.
The official said Beijing has nearly 5,000 beds for laboring mothers so far. However, top level hospitals are running above capacity, while more than half the beds are empty at private hospitals.
If all the resources are mobilized, it will be much easier for Beijing to cope with the pressure, Fang said.
The official added that the expansion of obstetrics partly aims at directing doctors and patients to second, third and community level hospitals, in order to alleviate pressure on top level hospitals.
