Booming business for maternity hospitals

Beijing's mothers-to-be are facing a shortage of hospital resources due to the surge of pregnancies that have followed the loosening of the family-planning policy, the Beijing Youth Daily reported.

To get regular pre-natal checkups and a guaranteed hospital bed when they go into labor, expectant women must register with maternity hospitals early in their pregnancy. The Beijing Obstetrics and Genecology Hospital announced they have no more rooms for women expecting to give birth in November 2014.

Scalpers who loiter around the hospitals are claiming they can guarantee a bed for 5,000 yuan ($804.84) to 10,000 yuan, but the hospitals have warned families to avoid such scams.