To meet the growing demand for institutional deliveries, the government has enhanced the bed capacity of public health facilities exclusively for mother and child care by a whopping 20,000 beds.

To be implemented under the Reproductive and Child Health scheme, the increase in the bed numbers will benefit 10 States that have bad health indicators but a heavy patient load for institutional deliveries. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has set a target of two to two-and-half years for the additional infrastructure to become functional.