Couples preparing for parenthood will have an easier time applying for birth permits following the Ministry of Health's merger with the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC), experts predict.
The merger, announced Sunday on the sidelines of the 12th National People's Congress, aims to optimize public resources and unify services currently overlapping at local family planning offices and hospitals.
In December 2012, the NPFPC announced it would simplify the birth permit process, following a publicized case involving a couple forced to rush back and forth between their hometowns and Beijing over three years to collect dozens of stamped documents needed to file their application.
Yao Yuan, a professor at the School of Sociology and Population Studies at the Renmin University of China, said the integration of the two ministerial-level departments would improve healthcare services.
Lu Jiehua, a professor at the Institute of Population Research at Peking University, echoed this call, saying red tape would likely be slashed much to the relief of parents-to-be. "The current system that sends people back and forth to local hospitals and family planning offices will see changes," Lu told the Global Times.
Li Jianmin, a professor with the Institute of Population and Development with Tianjin-based Nankai University, said simplifying this process was in line with China's healthcare ambitions.
"A noticeable trend has emerged showing the country is striving to raise the quality of its family planning services," Li told the Global Times, noting that cases such as the couple in Beijing reported in November last year were isolated.
The NPFPC's mandate of formulating demographic development strategies and population policies has been taken over by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner. The move comes after repeated calls from intellectuals to split the NPFPC, which in recent years showed signs of softening its previously forceful approach toward population policy making.
But any hopes the country might relax its family planning policy have been dashed.
China needs top-down guidance on its population policy to rule out possible demographic problems including aging in the future, Ma Xiaohe, deputy chief of the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the NDRC, told the Global Times.
Wang Feng, deputy chief of the Committee on Organizational Structure of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, clarified Monday that the family planning policy would remain in place.
"Tension between the population and resources still exists. Leaders of both the Party and administrative organs are held accountable for the implementation of this policy, which is linked to their evaluation," Wang explained.
However, Li noted whether the policy will be adjusted in the short-term remains unknown, adding possible strengthening or loosening would depend on the state of development.
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