Uproar as town pays women to give birth there to save maternity ward

A small French town is to offer expectant mothers €1 000 (about R17 900) from next year to give birth at the local maternity ward in a bid to save it from closing.

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The initiative from 1 January, comes as birth rates dwindle nationwide and countryside hospitals increasingly close their maternity units.

The labour ward in Saint-Amand-Montrond in central France is among about 20 in the country that does not meet the legally required 300 births a year to stay open.

Management projects only 226 births at the ward by the end of the year.

Councillors late on Thursday approved the plan to offer future mothers vouchers worth €1 000 to spend at local businesses if they agreed to bring their child into the world in the town, instead of travelling to a bigger hospital.