Kathmandu, Oct. 8 -- Amid criticism over an incident in which a poor woman in labour was forced to give birth outside a hospital in Rajbiraj last month, the Family Welfare Division under the Department of Health Services has proposed free lab services worth Rs1,845 for women delivering at hospitals under the safe motherhood programme.

The government has offered free institutional delivery services since 2009 at state-run hospitals, community hospitals, and select medical colleges. But women seeking hospital deliveries still have to pay thousands of rupees for lab tests.

"We have revised the guideline to propose free lab tests worth Rs1,845 at health facilities providing services under the Ama Programme [mother scheme, a component of the...