For many women, childbirth can be a stressful and confusing experience, and most people would agree that pain-free childbirth should be the goal. However, ensuring wide societal recognition will still take time, the
China News Service reported.
Most births in China are natural - with no pain intervention - or C-sections, which are generally pain-free because of techniques such as epidural and spinal anesthesia. And pain-free vaginal deliveries may rely on a combination of spinal and local anesthesia, and pain-free labor - a vaginal delivery aided by an epidural or spinal painkiller - is safe for both mother and child.
Yet, it is still hard to promote pain-free childbirth around the country due to policies and traditional thinking.
Duan Tao, former president of the Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital Corporation (SFMIHC), said that the skills needed for pain-free childbirth are not difficult, but it is hard to disseminate them in China because of entrenched traditional ideas that natural childbirth with no pain relief is good for mother and child. Also, policies do not provide preferences for anesthetists and midwives, and without reasonable rewards for their hard work, the shortage of these staff will impact the development of pain-free childbirth.
Liu Zhiqiang, head of the department of anesthesiology at SFMIHC, said that training new anesthetists and midwifes is hard in the short term, but he is adamant that promoting pain-free childbirth is imperative.
Li Yuehong, a head nurse at SFMIHC, suggested that if possible, pain-free childbirth should be considered a basic medical need that must be included in China's medical insurance system, because the cost is currently too expensive for most Chinese.
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