This is amazing news for China (Hong Kong), where the government is celebrating the “ Obstetric Winter “ this year, taking a firm stand on its own. You must be wondering what the term Obstetric Winter means. Well! This means that the women of Hong Kong (China) have decided/opted to remain childless due to high childcare costs.
For this reason, two hospitals in the provinces of Zhejiang in the east and Jiangxi in the South of Hong Kong have declared that they will be closing their obstetric department. Meanwhile, Jiangxi Fifth Peoples Hospital in Ganzhou City has announced that its services will end on March 11 this year.
On the other hand, Jiangxi Hospital of Traditional Medicine in Zhejiang, another hospital, declared that it would cease operation on the 1st of February of this year. Now, the question arises: why have these women opted for such a big decision? Every woman wants to become a mother to a child regardless of financial status.
But we see something strange and new in Hong Kong that is adverse to female human nature. So why not see what has made them take such a step? The monstrous culprit of snatching motherhood from the women of Hong Kong is that China is one of the most expensive places to bring up a child relative to its gross domestic product per capita.
Being a woman myself, I can imagine how difficult it is to decide not to become a parent at all in one’s life. This step must have hindered these women’s relationship with their spouses and also their in-laws to a great extent.
The circumstances are so serious that the Chinese policymakers are now trying their best to boost the young couple’s desire to have children. China is facing a rapidly ageing society to a great extent. It has set a record in 2023 of low births and high death rates due to COVID-19, and this will affect economic growth to a great extent. Last, China’s National Health Commission reports that the country’s maternity hospital count fell precipitously from 807 in 2020 to 793 in 2021.
