The National Health Commission recently announced it was launching a pilot program to promote painless childbirth.

So-called painless labor uses epidural anesthesia or spinal anesthesia technology to help reduce the pain of a natural delivery. Painless labor has been used in developed countries for a long time, but due to the medical treatment level and the shortage of anesthetists in local hospitals few Chinese women take analgesia when having a natural delivery.

According to the three-year working plan for the pilot program (2018-20), the National Health Commission will select some qualified hospitals nationwide to launch the program and then gradually promote it nationwide.

The commission aims to regulate the practice of painless labor, increase the ratio in natural delivery and reduce the number of women having a Caesarean section. The promotion of painless labor will be conducive to safeguard health and well-being of women during childbirth and improve people's sense of gain in terms of medical treatment.

According to the National Health Commission, a list of hospitals participating in the pilot program will be released in January.

The pilot hospitals will have to establish a management system for labor analgesia, and at the same time carry out regular training for medical staff administering labor analgesia.