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KUCHING: Sarawak is prepared to face the anticipated baby boom early next year following the Movement Control Order (MCO), said Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah.

“This is a government that cares. Whether there is going to be a baby boom or not, the state of Sarawak is big enough to accommodate the newborns and we welcome them,” she said here today.

National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) Health Unit head Dr Hamizah Mohd Hassan recently said the MCO could boost the country’s birth rate by early next year, as the majority of married couples have been confined in their homes together.

Dr Hamizah, who was interviewed on RTM TV programme recently, said her extrapolation was based on an unusual number of birth cases reported in Maine and New Hampshire in the United States in 1998, after the two states were in lockdown for a long period due to bad snowstorms.

Fatimah in concurring with Dr Hamizah’s opinion said, such birth rate occurrences are quite likely to happen, as couples would have the “time and opportunity” and would also encounter difficulties in getting contraceptives during the period.

On the other hand, she said couples would also need to consider issues such as future financial implication, child care and education.

According to Fatimah, the state government had been keeping a close watch on the number of babies born in Sarawak since last year, and had introduced a scheme where babies born from 2019 would get RM1,000 under the Endowment Fund Sarawak (EFS).  “This year the state government introduced the Bantuan Ibu Bersalin or assistance for mothers scheme amounting RM450,  to ease some of their burden, especially those who have no income during their confinement period,” she added. – Bernama