The experience of carrying out the technical responsibility system in the birth control of Peng County, Sichuan Province]

Following the establishment of the system of fixed responsibility in production in Peng County, Sichuan Province, the County's Family Planning Office and Public Health Bureau in 1980 broadened the system of technical responsibility in birth control by defining tasks and goals. The commune public health office should guide birth control technology, lower the incidence of unplanned pregnancies and the number of abortions. The number of fertile women using IUDs should be over 80%, and its failure rate should be less then 10%; the failure rate of male ligature should be less than 3%. Commune members should give 1 jiao to the public health office for expenses incurred in birth control technology. If all the goals are reached, then there would be economic rewards outside the total public support system. That is, 1 jiao is awarded for each IUD inserted, 2 jiao for male ligatures and 3 jiao for female ligatures. Infractions such as poor attitude, irresponsibility, or delaying surgery are fined from 1-20 yuan. The following situations resulted from having implemented the system of technical responsibilty for birth control: 1) medical personnel had the authority to initiate action concerning birth control technology; 2) the quality of surgery was raised, while the incidence of errors was lowered; 3) the costs of surgery were lowered; and 4) because abortions are not awarded with economic incentives, medical personnel tended to perform more preventive surgery rather than corrective surgery.