The Zhanjiang Women's & Children's Hospital and Lianjiang Women's & Children's Hospital were listed among the first 913 domestic hospitals to try out labor pain relief methods, according to the National Health Commission.

Labor pain-free methods, which make use of epidural anesthesia or spinal anesthesia to reduce the pain of a natural delivery, are already in wide use in many developed countries. However, due to the lower quality of medical treatment and shortage of anesthetists, few Chinese women take anesthesia during labor.

The promotion of new pain relief methods for childbirth is expected to reduce the number of cesarean sections and improve the quality of life for women after giving birth.

The two hospitals will establish painless-labor management and service teams, establish quality control systems, and strengthen training, clinical practices, and evaluations of medical staff to ensure the safety of the procedures.