Free child deliveries for poor women this year

Millions of expectant mothers from low-income families will receive a child delivery subsidy from the government this year, the Health Ministry said Monday.

The ministry is preparing to implement the free delivery program and plans to expand the service to all provinces. However, Health Minister Endang R. Sedyaningsih said her office was experiencing difficulty in distributing the funds to support the program.

“It’s a bit complicated to disburse the money to provinces in Indonesia,” she said Monday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Her office has not decided whether to disburse the money directly to community health centers or through local administrations.

The ministry allocated around Rp 1 billion for the program from a total of Rp 5.1 billion allocated to the 2010 health subsidy fund called Jamkesmas. Last year the ministry allocated Rp 3 billion for Jamkesmas.

The ministry has said the program is aimed at reducing the maternal mortality rate to meet one of the Millennium Development Goals. It said the state would not cover deliveries handled by uncertified midwives.