China to reverse sterilization on quake parents

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing will send a medical team to China's earthquake zone to reverse sterilization operations on parents who have lost children in the disaster to allow them to have another child, Xinhua said on Friday.

The team will provide technological support for those wanting to give birth to another child, the agency quoted Zhang Shikun, director of the science and technology bureau of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, as saying.

The announcement comes after a growing number of parents from across the quake-hit area have been demanding the government explain why so many schools collapsed during the quake.

Many parents believe corruption in school construction was to blame for the shoddy construction.

At least 69,000 people died in the quake.

The medical team will also provide free counseling, guidance, surgery, and the implementation of artificial reproduction technology, for those who wish to have another child, said Xinhua.

Under China's "one child" policies, parents who lose a child or have a disabled child are allowed to have a second baby.

The Sichuan provincial Population and Family Planning Commission estimated about 7,000 dead and 16,000 injured were the only children of their families.

(Reporting by Kirby Chien; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)