The National Health Commission (NHC) has issued a notification with the aim of enhancing the management of midwifery services, outlining a total of six requirements to improve accessibility and service quality.
The first requirement is to strengthen the planning and layout of midwifery services, with the goal of promoting provincial and municipal maternal and child health institutions to meet the standards of Class 3 maternal and child health institutions. In principle, counties (cities, districts) with a population of over 300,000 should have at least two public medical institutions providing midwifery services, while those with fewer than 300,000 should have at least one.
The notification also calls for the proactive disclosure of the list of midwifery institutions. County-level health administrative departments must disclose and update the list of midwifery institutions and other information within 20 working days after making an administrative licensing decision on midwifery technology. Provincial and municipal health administrative departments are required to compile and publish the list annually before January 31st.
Quality management of midwifery services is to be strengthened, with institutions expected to establish an obstetric medical quality management working group and conduct at least two medical quality and safety case warning education sessions per year. Emergency drills for common critical conditions such as postpartum hemorrhage should be conducted quarterly, with a target of controlling emergency cesarean sections within 30 minutes, a timeframe that is to be gradually reduced. The implementation of an identification system for pregnant and postpartum women is also mandated, with the encouragement of technology such as ID card readers and biometric systems for identity verification at key stages.
The construction of maternity friendly hospitals is another focus, with the adjustment and optimization of hospital resources, including increasing the number of single and double rooms in obstetric wards to improve hospitalization conditions.
The standardization of midwifery service resource adjustment is also addressed, ensuring continuous obstetric services in maternal and child health institutions, public comprehensive hospitals, and public medical institutions responsible for treating critically ill pregnant and postpartum women. Public medical institutions planning to close maternity clinics are to solicit opinions widely.
Lastly, the notification calls for the establishment and improvement of policy guarantee mechanisms, emphasizing the public welfare attributes of obstetrics and gynecology services. It aims to ensure that the salary level of obstetricians in comprehensive hospitals is not lower than the average salary level of hospital physicians. Issuing revenue targets to obstetrics and obstetric medical personnel is strictly prohibited, and their salaries shall not be linked to business income such as drugs, sanitary materials, inspection, or laboratory testing.- Flcube.com
