Artikel 49

1. In respect of pregnancy and confinement and their consequences, the maternity medical benefit shall be medical care as specified in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.
2. The medical care shall include at least:
(a) pre-natal, confinement and post-natal care, either by medical practitioners or by qualified midwives;
(b) hospitalisation where necessary; and
(c) pharmaceutical supplies; the patient or her breadwinner may be required to share in the cost of the pharmaceutical supplies the beneficiary receives. The rules concerning such cost-sharing shall be so designed as to avoid hardship, and the part of the cost paid by the beneficiary or breadwinner shall not exceed 25 per cent on the average. Where cost-sharing takes the form of a fixed sum in respect of each prescription, the total of such payments made by all persons protected shall not exceed 25 per cent of the total cost within a given period.
3. The medical care specified in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be afforded with a view to maintaining, restoring or improving the health of the woman protected and her ability to work and to attend to her personal needs.
4. The institutions or Government departments administering the maternity medical benefit shall, by such means as may be deemed appropriate, encourage the women protected to avail themselves of the general health services placed at their disposal by the public authorities or by other bodies recognised by the public authorities.