The health care for Shenzhen's women and children is among the best in China, said Chen Yumin, deputy director of the municipal health bureau, at a conference on women and children's health held Wednesday at the Citizens' Center.

According to Chen, the city has set up a sound system of services to take care of the health of women and children, including seven hospitals designated for women and children, 52 hospitals with maternity wards and 345 community clinics by the end of last year.

The Shenzhen Women's Hospital, which was established this year, is Guangdong Province's first hospital specializing in women's health care. Besides, the city has more medical professionals involved in the field. At the end of last year, the city had 739 gynecologists and 524 midwives.

The fatality rate for pregnant and post-natal women among Shenzhen's permanent residents has dropped year by year since 1998, and it was 18.74 per 100,000 last year.

 "We have made great efforts in improving the health care for women and children, but there still exist some problems," said Chen.

According to Chen, the health care facilities and doctors for women and children are still not enough to take care of the city's large population, which now exceeds 10 million.

Furthermore, with far fewer people undergoing pre-marital medical checkups than before, there are more babies carrying congenital disorders than previously.

Last year, the rate of pre-marital medical checkups dived from over 99 percent to about 6 percent since the adoption of the New Regulation on Marriage Registration, which makes it optional.

In 2004, women accounted for 54.3 percent of all employees in Shenzhen, an increase of 753,400 from 2000, and among government officials, 39.4 percent were women.

(Shenzhen Daily October 20, 2005)