Year of Horse bringing baby boom with it

Over-taxed maternity hospitals in Beijing are bracing for an expected baby boom now that the city government has relaxed rules allowing more couples to have a second child. Thousands more babies are expected to born in the city now that the government is allowing couples to have a second child if just one parent is a single child.

Crowded and rowdy. This is the capital's top maternity hospital. It may seem like an unpleasant place to give birth but it remains the first choice of the city's mothers-to-be.

"Usually a patient has to wait in three different lines to register or pay for check-ups. Each line takes at least 20 minutes to get through. It's really not easy for a pregnant woman to stand in a queu for an hour." A relative of maternity patient said.

Overworked hospital staff say they don't like the situation either.

"The number of pregnant women coming to our hospital will be far beyond our capacity this year. Currently we accept nearly a thousand patients every day for check-ups. More than 14,000 babies were born here in 2013. That's already beyond our capacity." Wang Jiandong, vice chief of Beijing Maternal & Child Health Hospital, said.

Changes to the family planning policy announced last week are expected to add 54- thousand new borns - on top of the 270 thousand babies born in Beijing each year. To cope with even the current patient load this hospital has had to turn doctors' meeting rooms into wards.

"We have six maternity wards, each as crowded as this one. Even after turning the meeting rooms into wards, we still don't have enough beds for new mothers. They often have to sleep on a stretcher for a couple of hours before a bed becomes vacant. We are also shortening hospital stays after birth." Liu Yang, head nurse of Beijing Maternal & Child Health Hospital, said.

Relaxing the family planning policy was issued by the central government last November and local governments across the country are implementing the change and planning for a baby boom. In a mega-city like Beijing, which has a population of more than 21 million, it means this hospital has to recruit new staff and use just about any space available to put patients.

"We have increased the number of doctors and nurses and have bought more medical equipment. Meanwhile, some of the storehouses have been converted into maternity wards." Wang said.

Obstetrical departments in Beijing hospitals are expected to add about 1,000 beds over the next three years allowing them to care for an additional 70,000 new mothers each year.