Do You Know?
FAMILY PLANNING
On average,
a baby was born in Singapore every 11 minutes in
1965! The high birth rates stretched facilities at the Kandang Kerbau
Hospital (KKH). Mr Lee Suk Ting, a Nursing Officer, recounted the
situation in 1962:
“The number of deliveries in KKH
was at its peak, with an average
of 100 deliveries per day. The
number of beds available then
fell far short of demand, and
many deliveries were conducted
with patients lying on the floor on
mackintoshes or on transport
trolleys. Patients in the early
stages of labour sat for long
hours on hard wooden benches
waiting for a bed.”
Source: MICA
National Day Float decorated with family planning campaign
posters by FPPB, 1968.
Extract from The History of Obstetrics & Gynaecology in
Singapore (2003) p. 372.
Nearly all mothers with normal deliveries had to be discharged within 24
hours. In 1966, the number of deliveries reached a record high of 39,835 and
won KKH a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the largest number
of births in a single maternity facility – a record it held for 10 years.
Recognising the potential impact of the high birth rates on the Republic’s
limited resources, Minister for Health, Yong Nyuk Lin, tabled a White Paper
in Parliament in September 1965 and outlined a Five-year Mass Family
Planning programme. The Family Planning and Population Board (FPPB)
was subsequently established in January 1966.
In 1972, new incentives such as waiver of delivery charges and extended
medical leave were given to parents who underwent sterilization. At the
same time, disincentives such as increment of delivery charges for birth of
each additional child and no priority for allocation of HDB flats for large
families were implemented. Between 1972 and 1975, fertility rate dropped
from 3.1 to 2.1 children per female population. By the end of 1980, it
declined further to 1.7 children per female population. By then, however,
Singapore’s economic growth and aging population meant that it needed
to maintain a sizeable workforce. The family planning programme was
revised in 1986 to encourage Singaporeans to have more children.
Source: NAS
Family planning campaign posters produced by the FPPB to
educate the public on the advantages of small families and how
that could be achieved with family planning. “Stop at Two” was
the official slogan.