A large number of South Korean obstetric clinics have no delivery rooms, according to a government report forwarded to an opposition lawmaker Tuesday.
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs report sent to Rep. Lee Nak-yon showed that of the 3,668 obstetric clinics and hospitals in the
country in June, only 27 percent or 1,007 had delivery rooms for babies.
The percentage marks a slight decrease from 28 percent last year.
It also showed that of the 3,131 smaller-sized clinics, only 21.5 percent had delivery-related facilities, forcing pregnant women to be transferred to larger medical institutions when babies are due to be born.
The ministry said that fewer delivery rooms apparently contribute to the country's dwindling birth rate and tend to discourage doctors from delivering babies out of fear that they may get implicated in possible medical accidents.
South Korea's birth rate has been in a slump for many years with an average Korean woman giving birth to 1.19 babies in 2008, down from 1.25 in
2007. The numbers are the lowest among the 31 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.