Hu Li, deputy to the Provincial People's Congress, secretary of the Party Committee and president of Yiyang Central Hospital.
Red Net Moment, January 18 (Reporter Lu Xin, Li Bing, Wang Yan, Yang Yan) The population issue is closely related to the future and destiny of the nation, and in view of the current increasingly severe low fertility level, it has become a top priority to introduce countermeasures as soon as possible. At the two sessions of the provincial people's congress, Hu Li, deputy to the Provincial People's Congress, secretary of the party committee and president of Yiyang Central Hospital, submitted a "proposal on improving fertility support measures", proposing to reduce the cost of childbirth and childcare, improve the level of inclusive childcare services and medical subsidies, so that more families are willing to have a second and third child.
"The mainland's population base is huge, and the long-term low fertility rate is bound to accelerate the aging process of the population." Hu Li told reporters that in 2021, she randomly selected 100 cases of women of childbearing age in Yiyang District and found that more than 70% of them were unwilling to have a second child, and more than 90% were unwilling to have a third child. The reasons for this mainly include the high cost of raising and education, and the fear of hindering career development. "The number of children a family decides to have is positively correlated with its economic strength, and most of the couples who are of the right age to conceive are from one-child families, and both parents need to be supported, and the medical and educational expenses required for childbirth are pressures for these families, let alone expect two children or more." Hu Li introduced that economic pressure coupled with insufficient supply of childcare resources, insufficient supporting facilities for women and children and other inclusive services are important factors leading to the decline in Hunan fertility rate year by year.
To this end, Hu Li suggested that the level of medical subsidies should first be increased. "An important expenditure in childcare expenditure is medical expenses, including rehabilitation required before pregnancy, pregnancy, childbirth and after childbirth, children's health maintenance expenditure, etc. It is recommended that all routine pregnancy tests during pregnancy and some postpartum rehabilitation projects be included in the scope of medical insurance, and the reimbursement amount for hospital delivery will be increased as soon as possible, so as to effectively reduce medical expenses at the stage of childbirth and reduce personal income tax for multi-child families."
Second, it is necessary to improve the level of public services for childbirth, establish well-service early childhood care institutions in the community, share the parenting pressure of young couples, and guide capable kindergartens, health care institutions or other social resources to establish childcare institutions and jointly undertake the task of childcare and education. At the same time, it is necessary to increase the supply of supporting facilities for women and children, and it is recommended that all public places be equipped with a sufficient number of mother and baby rooms according to the size of the scale, and the relevant units should provide a feeding area with high privacy for female employees during the breastfeeding period, so as to provide a comfortable and convenient child-rearing environment for mothers who are working hard in the workplace.
Finally, Hu Li also proposed to seek relevant assisted reproduction technologies to help working women extend the reproductive window.