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進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taichung raises maternity benefits, drops daycare fees
A medical worker in Hsinchu City yesterday holds one of the 18 babies born in the city up to that point on the New Year’s Day. Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
By Ho Tsung-han and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Increased maternity benefits and reduced public daycare fees came into effect in Taichung yesterday.
Maternity benefits were raised from NT$10,000 to NT$20,000 under the new policy, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen （盧秀燕） said during a visit to the Taichung branch of China Medical University Hospital, where she congratulated the families of babies born at the hospital yesterday.
The city’s first newborn of the year was born at the hospital at two minutes past midnight to a family surnamed Wu （吳） from Taiping District （太平）.
The father said that he and his wife were expecting their child to be born on Jan. 13, and were taken by surprise when his wife began having contractions on Friday afternoon.
“We knew that the maternity benefits were going up starting Jan. 1. Lucky for us our son held on until just past midnight to be born, or we would have received NT$10,000 less,” he said.
The benefit was increased as it had not been adjusted for 10 years, Lu said.
Monthly fees for public daycare were also adjusted, dropping from NT$10,000 to NT$7,000, she said, adding that after stipends are deducted, families would only need to pay NT$3,000 per child per month.
Meanwhile, public daycare facilities have been increased from five centers to 18, with plans to have 50 centers in the city by the end of next year, Lu said.
“If children can go to public daycare centers, that takes a large burden off the family,” she said. “Taichung has about 15,000 to 20,000 births annually, and maybe with these new benefits there will be even more babies born in the city.”
The Taichung City Social Affairs Bureau said that families with at least one parent who have resided in the city for 180 days or longer can apply for the city’s maternity benefits.
Those wanting to apply should do so within six months of their child’s birth by bringing the applying parent’s national identification card and stamp to a branch of the Taichung Department of Household Registration, it said.
Meanwhile, as of 2pm yesterday, Taoyuan had recorded 60 New Year’s babies — 32 boys and 28 girls, including one set of twins.
Additional reporting by Su Chin-fong and Chen En-hui
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
